Tech Hubs Program Phase 2

The U.S Economic Development Administration’s Tech Hubs Program aims to strengthen U.S. economic and national security with investments in regions across the country with assets and resources with the potential to become globally competitive in the technologies and industries of the future.

The Tech Hubs Program Phase 2 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will award Implementation Grants to Tech Hubs Designees to help propel the designees’ chosen geography into self-sustaining global competitiveness in a key technology area. Implementation Grants can fund a wide range of non-construction and construction activities that aim to increase regional capacity to demonstrate, deploy, and commercialize innovative technology products and services across four broad categories: workforce development, business and entrepreneur development, technology maturation, and infrastructure. This large suite of eligible activities is designed to meet the individual needs of a particular region and what it specifically needs to catalyze it becoming a sustainable, globally competitive Tech Hub in its consortium’s selected core technology area.

For each Tech Hubs selected for Implementation Grants, EDA expects to fund approximately 3-8 tightly aligned projects – totaling between $40 million and $70 million each – that aim to collectively address the region’s key inhibitors of global competitiveness.

The Tech Hubs Program was enacted as part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (as the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program). The statute authorized $10 billion for the program over five years. As part of the FY 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress appropriated EDA $500 million to launch the program.