Economic Development Administration designates 31 tech hubs to jump start manufacturing, development

These days, technology allows someone to connect with another living on the other side of the world with a click of a button. Efficiencies in the transportation sector let businesses sell products and interact with customers who are in a different time zone. It’s a global economy—one the Biden-Harris administration is looking to be more competitive in through the creation of 31 regional Tech Hubs.

The progam is “an economic development initiative designed to drive regional innovation and job creation by strengthening a region’s capacity to manufacture, commercialize, and deploy technology that will advance American competitiveness,” reads a statement about the initiative from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. “The program invests directly in burgeoning, high-potential U.S. regions and aims to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers.”

The hubs are located in 32 states and Puerto Rico, in both rural and urban areas, and focus on industries including autonomous systems, biotechnology, quantum computing, clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, and precision medicine, among others.

“Innovation, cutting-edge research, and creativity can be found in every community across America,” said Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves in the statement. “The phase 1 designees and grant recipients reflect the diverse technological industries growing here at home and are symbols of American innovation and opportunity. The Tech Hubs program will provide them tools and resources to drive economic growth across the nation, which Americans will feel for generations to come.”

The designated hubs are:

Safe and Effective Autonomous Systems

Maintaining Our Quantum Edge

Advancing Biotechnology: Drugs and Devices

Advancing Biotechnology: Precision and Prediction

Accelerating Our Energy Transition

Strengthening Our Critical Minerals Supply Chain

Regaining Leadership in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Growing the Future of Materials Manufacturing

Simultaneous to the announcement of the hubs, the Economic Development Administration also awarded 29 planning grants to help selected communities be more competitive for future funding opportunities. Winners were selected from nearly 400 applications from regional consortia that include industry, academia, state and local governments, economic development organizations, and labor and workforce partners, the statement says.

The tech hubs were authorized under the the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law in August 2022. On Monday, the Department of Commerce launched a funding opportunity, allowing the designated hubs to apply to receive between $40 million and $70 million each for implementation funding, totaling nearly $500 million.