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The US government seeks to transform the major cities in the center of the country into attractive centers for technological innovation, as it initially plans to invest $ 500 million in order to achieve this.
On Friday, the US Department of Commerce announced its first Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, for the Regional Technology and Innovation Center program, known as Tech Hubs.
The process begins for eligible groups across the country to apply to be classified as technology hubs. This designation gives them the opportunity to leverage the liquidity to make their regions attractive places for entrepreneurs and technologists to live and work.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters: “America leads the world in technological innovation. But the sad truth is that our technology ecosystem is very concentrated,” she said, noting that 80% of American venture capital money is invested in the San Francisco Bay Area, Northeast and Southern California.
The minister continued, “There is a lot of potential for technological innovation across the country. In the United States we have the best research institutions in the world. This is indisputable. And frankly, there are a lot of them in the heart of America, far from the coast.”
Congress authorized $10 billion for the program between fiscal years 2023 and 2027, of which $500 million is available for distribution this year. Under the current funding opportunity, a total of $15 million in planning grants will be made available to applicants designated as Technical Centers.
And later this year, five to 10 selected technology centers will be awarded grants of between $50 million and $75 million each to help build capacity in their region, according to a Commerce Department official.
President Joe Biden has requested $4 billion for technology centers in next year’s budget.
--It should be noted that eligible applicants for this program are groups made up of at least one entity from each of the following categories: institution of higher education, subdivision of local or state government, industry or company in technology or related manufacturing, and economic development group , work organization or workforce training group.
By law, Tech Hubs must focus on a specific set of key areas of technology, which include artificial intelligence, robotics, natural disaster prevention, biotechnology, cybersecurity, energy efficiency and more. The department must designate no less than 20 technical centers by law.
The hope is that the injection of money will help regions across the country become major centers of innovation and create more good-paying jobs across a larger swath of the country.
“President Biden is very clear on one point, and that is that everyone in America deserves a fair chance at economic opportunity, no matter where they live, and they shouldn’t have to move in order to get a good job,” Raimondo said. “No one should leave their family, support system or network to move to New York or San Francisco just to get a good job.”
Raimundo also framed the program as an important investment in the national security of the United States, pointing to the nation’s current efforts through the Chip and Science Act to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, which became an urgent bipartisan priority when the pandemic highlighted how fragile the computer chip supply chain was.
The minister explained that this is because most advanced chips are not produced in the United States, and the industry’s reliance on chips made in Taiwan makes the supply chain particularly vulnerable, given the tensions with China.
The United States, Raimondo said, “has surrendered our leadership in manufacturing and innovation for this important technology. And now we are in a difficult situation where we have to catch up.”
“Tech Hubs is about making sure this doesn’t happen again, and ensuring we stay ahead of the curve in other core technologies, from quantum to artificial intelligence to biotech,” she said.
