Dive Brief:
- Twelve “tech hubs” will get $504 million from the Biden administration to turn their communities into centers of technological innovation in industries such as artificial intelligence, clean energy and biotechnology.
- The implementation grants announced Tuesday are the second phase of the White House’s tech hubs program. In a first phase announced in October, the Biden administration designated 31 U.S. regions as “tech hubs” eligible for the implementation funds.
- “We’re excited to see this initial round of implementation funding supporting a surge of new jobs, new technologies, and new energy to bolster America’s competitiveness,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Castillo said in a statement. If more funding becomes available, the Economic Development Administration plans to invest in additional tech hubs.
Dive Insight:
When the Biden administration opened tech hub applications in May 2023, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo highlighted the need to bring more tech jobs to communities outside the coastal cities where most of them are currently located.
“That doesn’t reflect our full potential,” she said in a video posted to Twitter at the time, adding that tech hubs will mean people nearby don’t have to leave their hometown to get a “great-paying tech job.”
That’s still part of the Biden administration’s messaging around the program, with the White House saying in a July 2 statement that the benefits of innovation and technology development “for too long have been concentrated in a few coastal cities.”
Tech hubs receiving implementation grants
The implementation grants will support 52 projects across the 12 selected tech hubs, including those to support entrepreneurs and businesses, scale lab-to-market transitions, build shared testbeds and manufacturing facilities and train workers.
Among the stakeholders on tech hub teams are companies; state, local or tribal governments; higher education institutions, labor unions and nonprofit organizations.