On Monday, Oct. 23, President Joe Biden announced 31 regional tech hubs across 32 states and Puerto Rico eligible for $500 million in federal funding made available through the August 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The chosen areas will compete for up to $75 million each to scale up work in emerging tech fields, from semiconductor production and clean energy to artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
“A tech hub is where we are going to invest in critical technologies, like biotechnology, critical materials, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing,” President Joe Biden said. “So the U.S. will lead the world again in innovation across the board.”
The 31 tech hubs were picked from a pool of 370 applicants.
“It is unbelievable to me the quantity and quality of applications,” said Gina Raimondo, secretary of Commerce. “We received almost 400 applications, all of which were excellent, from every state in the country, and I have heard from university presidents, senators, Congress people, governors all advocating for their tech hub.”
President Biden also hopes the federal funding sparks more investments in U.S. innovation from the private sector. According to the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the tech hub program is vital to the future of America.
“Tech hubs helps ensure that industries of the future start, grow, and remain in the U.S., creating and expanding good jobs opportunities in emerging technology fields,” said Alejandra Castillo, assistant secretary of Commerce. “Your community’s participation in tech hubs is a part of both our national economic and national security strategies.”
Biden hopes the program will spread quality jobs in the tech field beyond the current tech capital in the San Francisco Bay area, Silicon Valley, and into communities that were impacted by factory closures as jobs moved overseas.
“Over the past few decades, these communities lost more than jobs. They lost a sense of — their sense of dignity, of opportunity, a sense of pride,” Biden said. “We’re going to change all that. Tech hubs are going to bring this work to where people live in communities all across America.”
The 31 hub designees reach:
- Oklahoma.
- Rhode Island.
- Massachusetts.
- Montana.
- Colorado.
- Illinois.
- Indiana.
- Wisconsin.
- Virginia.
- New Hampshire.
- Missouri.
- Kansas.
- Maryland.
- Alabama.
- Pennsylvania.
- Delaware.
- New Jersey.
- Minnesota.
- Louisiana.
- Idaho.
- Wyoming.
- South Carolina.
- Georgia.
- Florida.
- New York.
- Nevada.
- Oregon.
- Vermont.
- Ohio.
- Maine.
- Washington.
- Puerto Rico.
In phase two of the program, the economic development administration will award five to 10 of the 31 hubs with $40-$70 million worth of grants.
