The Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) said today that it plans to award approximately $210 million in additional funding to six designated Tech Hubs, bringing the total funding for Tech Hubs implementation to over $714 million across 18 hubs in 21 states.
The Tech Hubs program – authorized under the CHIPS and Science Act – aims to develop clusters of businesses, communities, and higher education institutions focused on accelerating technology deployment across America.
In 2023, the program designated 31 technology hubs across the country, and in 2024, it awarded more than $500 million of investments in 12 of these regions. The program’s appropriated funding currently totals up to just over $1 billion of the program’s $10 billion authorization.
“The Tech Hubs Program and this latest allocation of funds are the result of bipartisan cooperation in Congress – I hope that good-faith work will endure so we can continue to invest in these centers of excellence across the nation, which in return, are providing good-paying jobs in industries of the future and helping to strengthen U.S. economic and national security,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
Raimondo told reporters on Monday that the new funding from Congress “is clearly a vote of confidence behind this strategy.”
The latest round of awards is funded by appropriations that will flow from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Congress approved last month.
Specifically, the bill includes up to $500 million in additional funding for the Tech Hubs program using proceeds from a future spectrum auction by the Federal Communications Commission.
“Under this provision, EDA will be able to access Tech Hubs funding at approximately $220 million now, with up to an additional $280 million contingent on the outcome of the auction,” Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development Cristina Killingsworth told reporters. “The auction is expected to take place within the next 18 months.”
The six hubs will each receive implementation funding ranging from about $22 million to $48 million. The award recipients include: the American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Tech Hub, Birmingham Biotechnology Hub, Corvallis Microfluidics Tech Hub, Critical Minerals and Materials for Advanced Energy (CM2AE) Tech Hub, Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub, and Vermont Gallium Nitride Tech Hub.
Killingsworth explained that the hubs were chosen through “a merit-based and competitive process” from the applications previously submitted through the Phase 2 application. These hubs did not receive Phase 2 implementation funding last year due to funding limitations.
“EDA staff is already working with the six hubs to make funding available and begin project work so that the hubs can initiate implementation activities as soon as possible,” Killingsworth said.
Along with the Tech Hubs funding, EDA also announced on Tuesday that it is awarding $25 million in Good Jobs Challenge program funding to eight grantees to support high-quality, locally-led workforce training programs.
This new round of Good Jobs awards focuses on critical and emerging technology industries, with an emphasis on empowering workers in historically overlooked and left behind communities.
“These new awards focus on existing workers who have jobs but who need training so that they can either keep their jobs or be upskilled to have more tech jobs,” Raimondo told reporters. “Training programs are only successful when you start with the job and the company and work backward – and that’s exactly what the Good Jobs Challenge is all about.”
