Regional Tech Hubs will strengthen American leadership in industries of the future, create jobs, and spur economic growth in all of America
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration will announce funding for 12 Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) to accelerate the growth of innovative industries. The Tech Hubs program is bringing innovation to every region of the country, creating new jobs, and ultimately supporting economic development in previously underinvested areas, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
The $504 million in funding awarded to these twelve Tech Hubs will position American workers, businesses, and communities to lead the industries of the future, such as semiconductors, clean energy, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and more, strengthening national and economic security. Tech Hubs will create good-paying jobs in these critical industries in communities across the country and will build on the manufacturing and entrepreneurship boom unleashed by President Biden, which has attracted more than $877 billion in investment in clean energy and manufacturing and spurred more than 18 million new business applications.
“Every American deserves the opportunity to thrive, no matter where they live. Today’s announcement that the Department of Commerce is investing $504 million in Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs across the country will ensure that the benefits of the industries of the future – from artificial intelligence and clean energy, to biotechnology and more – are shared with communities that have been overlooked for far too long, including rural, Tribal, industrial, and disadvantaged communities,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “These Tech Hubs will give regions across our nation the resources and opportunities necessary to lead in the economy of tomorrow while creating good-paying jobs for American workers.”
Authorized by President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act, the Tech Hubs program brings together companies, state, local, and Tribal governments, institutions of higher education, labor unions, and nonprofit organizations around a common vision for regional economic growth. These Tech Hubs will ensure that the benefits of innovation and technology development, which for too long have been concentrated in a few coastal cities, reach rural, industrial, and disadvantaged communities, growing regional economies from the bottom-up and the middle-out. Tech Hubs are a flagship example of the President’s place-based approach; emphasizing that America’s economy is stronger when we invest in communities rather than leave them behind.
Last year, President Biden announced the designation of 31 Tech Hubs in communities across the country. Today’s announcement will designate 12 winners of implementation grants of up to $51 million each to help accelerate and grow industries in these regions. These awardees span 14 states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Tech Hubs Implementation Grant Awardees
- Elevate Quantum Tech Hub, led by Elevate Quantum, seeks to solidify Colorado’s global leadership in quantum information technology (QIT) to enable progress in areas such as artificial intelligence, climate tech and healthcare with approximately $41 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Colorado and New Mexico.
- Headwaters Hub, led by Accelerate Montana, aims to become a global leader in smart, autonomous, photonic remote sensing technologies with approximately $41 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Montana.
- Heartland BioWorks, led by the Applied Research Institute, aims to transform Central Indiana into a global leader in biotechnology and biomanufacturing by increasing the region’s capacity to make and deploy life-saving medicines with approximately $51 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Indiana.
- iFAB Tech Hub, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, seeks to scale precision fermentation to convert underutilized corn feedstocks into high-value, customized alternative proteins, food ingredients, materials, chemicals, and more with approximately $51 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Illinois.
- Nevada Tech Hub, led by the University of Nevada, Reno, aims to build a self-sustaining and globally competitive full lithium lifecycle cluster, spanning extraction, processing, manufacturing, and recycling with approximately $21 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Nevada.
- NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub, led by CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, aims to enhance regional semiconductor manufacturing capabilities while ensuring economic opportunity for underserved communities with approximately $40 million in Tech Hubs awards serving New York.
- ReGen Valley Tech Hub, led by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, aims to make New Hampshire a global leader in biofabrication to produce cost-effective regenerative therapies that address chronic disease and organ failure with approximately $44 million in Tech Hubs awards serving New Hampshire.
- SC Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy, led by the South Carolina Department of Commerce, aims to be a global leader in advanced energy, with a focus on cyber-secure grid resilience technologies (GRT) and improving the clean energy supply chain by expanding opportunities for developing, testing, and deploying exportable electricity technologies with approximately $45 million in Tech Hubs awards serving South Carolina and Georgia.
- South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub, led by the Miami Dade County Office of Innovation and Economic Development, aims to advance its global leadership in sustainable and resilient infrastructure (SRI) solutions for the global climate crisis with approximately $19 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Florida.
- Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub, led by the Greater Akron Chamber in Ohio, aims to tackle the severe climate and environmental impacts resulting from the use of fossil fuel-derived polymers (rubbers and plastics) by accelerating sustainable polymer manufacturing and commercialization with approximately $51 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Ohio.
- Tulsa Hub for Equitable & Trustworthy Autonomy (THETA Tech Hub), led by Tulsa Innovation Labs, aims to become a global leader in developing and commercializing autonomous systems for use cases ranging from agriculture and pipeline inspections to regional transportation with approximately $51 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Oklahoma.
- Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, led by BioForward Wisconsin, aims to position Wisconsin as a global leader in personalized medicine, an emerging healthcare approach that tailors tests, treatments, and therapies informed by a patient’s unique genetic code, medical record, and environment with approximately $49 million in Tech Hubs awards serving Wisconsin.
A list of all 31 designated Tech Hubs is available here.
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