The application process for cities to win grants totaling $500 million to establish themselves as technology hubs will be opened by the Commerce Department on Friday.
The $500 million is a portion of a $10 billion authorization from the CHIPS and Science Act from the previous year, which was intended to encourage investments in cutting-edge technologies including biotech, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. It’s an effort to spread digital investment outside of a small group of American cities, namely Austin, Texas, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.
The goal, according to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo tells reporters, is to elevate these nations from being on the verge of greatness to leaders of the globe. My responsibility is to increase American competitiveness.
Setting up an industrial plan to focus government investment on technology like computer chips, clean energy, and other areas has been a top objective for the Biden administration. It reflects a notion that developing domestic strength will be the greatest strategy to battle against China’s rise because becoming leaders in certain fields will promote economic and national security.
The goal of the tech hubs is to develop industries that already have significant research expertise but lack access to capital that may support stronger growth and business formation. There are already advanced technologies in several areas of the United States, including medical gadgets in Minnesota, robots in Pittsburgh, and agricultural technology in Fresno, California. Finding strategies to advance those industries, however, so that government spending encourages additional private funding has been difficult.
Each applicant must form a relationship with one or more businesses, a state development agency, worker training programs, a university, and leaders from the state and local governments in order to be eligible for tech hub funding. It is anticipated that about 20 locations will be designated as IT hubs, with 10 eventually receiving funding.
By recommending that Congress allocate an additional $4 billion for it over the next two years in his budget plan, President Joe Biden aims to gradually increase financing for the initiative. Raimondo stated that she anticipates a significant number of submissions from all political perspectives.
The Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, formerly known as the Tech Hubs Program, links to a political point that Biden has made in speeches. The Democratic president has stated that individuals shouldn’t feel compelled to move away from their hometowns in order to find decent work or that opportunities shouldn’t be concentrated in a small number of areas while other portions of the country struggle.
If you’re a scientist with a wonderful concept, you shouldn’t need to go to Silicon Valley, according to Raimondo.
