Tech_Hubs_Phase_1_NOFO.pdf

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Federal Agency Name: Economic Development Administration (EDA or the Agency), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC).

• Federal Funding Opportunity Title: FY 2023 Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program Phase 1 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (Tech Hubs Phase 1 NOFO).

• Announcement Type and Date: Tech Hubs Phase 1 NOFO publishing EDA’s application submission requirements and application review procedures under the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, as authorized by section 28 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, as amended (15 U.S.C. § 3722a). Effective date: May 12, 2023.

• Funding Opportunity Number: EDA-TECHHUBSPHASE1-2023

• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.039, Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program

• Dates: This is a two-phase competition. The deadline for Phase 1 applications is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 15, 2023. Applications received after this deadline will not be reviewed or considered. Only those that are Designated as Technology Hubs in Phase 1 will be permitted to apply to Phase 2. It is anticipated that the Notice of Funding Opportunity for Phase 2 will be made available in fall 2023.

EDA may amend, cancel, or withdraw the Tech Hubs Phase 1 NOFO at any time. All changes will be communicated via Grants.gov.

• Eligible Applicants: Pursuant to section 28(c) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. § 3722a(c)), consortia are eligible applicants under this NOFO. An eligible consortium must include one or more of each of the following: (i) institutions of higher education, which may include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges or Universities, and Minority- Serving Institutions; (ii) State, territorial, local, or Tribal governments or other political subdivisions of a State, or a consortium thereof; (iii) industry groups or firms in relevant technology, innovation, or manufacturing sectors; (iv) economic development organizations or similar entities focused primarily on improving science, technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, or access to capital; and

(v) labor organizations or workforce training organizations. See section A.1.b.iii. for additional requirements related to the consortia. See section C.1. of this NOFO for a list of other entities that may also be part of a consortium.

Under this NOFO, EDA is not authorized to provide grants or cooperative agreements to individuals.

Requests from individuals will not be considered for funding.

• Funding Opportunity Description: Subject to the availability of funds, awards made under this NOFO will seek to strengthen U.S. economic and national security through place-based investments in regions with the assets, resources, capacity, and potential to become globally competitive Tech Hubs, within approximately ten years, in the technologies and industries of the future, and for those industries, companies, and the good jobs they create to start, grow, and remain in the United States.

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

FY 2023 EDA Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Phase 1 Notice of Funding Opportunity

A. Program Description

1. Competition Structure and Program Information

2. Statutory Authorities for EDA’s Tech Hubs Program

B. Federal Award Information

1. What Funding Is Available Under this Announcement?

2. What Type of Funding Instrument Will Be Used to Make Awards? How Long Will a Project’s Period of Performance Be?

C. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

2. Cost Sharing or Matching

D. Application and Submission Information

1. Obtaining an Application and Electronic Submission through EDGE

2. Content and Form of Applications

3. Submission Dates and Times

4. Intergovernmental Review

5. Funding Restrictions

6. Other Submission Requirements

7. EDGE Systems Issues

E. Application Review Information

1. Criteria, Review, and Selection Process

2. Grants Officer’s Decision

3. Review of Responsibility/Qualification Information in SAM.gov

F. Federal Award Administration Information

1. Federal Award Notice

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

3. Reporting

G. Federal Awarding Agency Contact

H. Other Information

1. Right to Use Information

2. Freedom of Information Act Disclosure

3. Notice of Government-Wide Procurement Restriction

4. Past Performance and Non-Compliance with Award Provisions

5. Certifications Required by Annual Appropriations Acts for Corporations and for Awards over $5 Million

6. EDA’s Non-Relocation Policy

7. NOFO Changes Communicated on Grants.gov

8. Disclosure of Information

9. Audit Requirements

10. Fraud Awareness Training

11. Office of Inspector General Rights and Responsibilities

A. Program Description

1. Competition Structure and Program Information

a. Competition Structure

Through the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program (Tech Hubs Program) and in line with 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(b)(1), EDA seeks to strengthen U.S. economic and national security through place-based investments in regions with the assets, resources, capacity, and potential to become globally competitive, within approximately ten years, in the technologies and industries of the future - and for those industries, companies, and the good jobs they create to start, grow, and remain in the United States. The Tech Hubs Program will support the modernization of United States manufacturing and improve commercialization and domestic production of innovative research.

The Tech Hubs Program aims to identify regions where an EDA investment can catalyze self-sustaining, globally-competitive regions over the next decade, with each focused on a key technology focus area. To achieve this goal and fulfill statutory direction, EDA will run this competition with a focus on geographic diversity and equity in two phases through two separate Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

In this Phase 1 NOFO, EDA will fund Strategy Development Grants and will Designate certain regions as Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs). Applicants to this Phase 1 NOFO must choose whether they are pursuing a Strategy Development Grant, a Tech Hub Designation, or both. Strategy Development Grants provide funding to awardees, and section A.1.c. discusses them in greater detail below.

Designation, on the other hand, is unfunded, but is a strong signal of a region’s potential and is a prerequisite to applying to the Phase 2 NOFO, through which EDA will award Implementation funding. Section A.1.d. below discusses Designation in more detail.

In a future Phase 2 NOFO, Designated Tech Hubs will compete for funding for Implementation projects to help propel the region into a self-sustaining, globally competitive Tech Hub. Phase 2 Implementation funding is discussed in greater detail below in section A.1.e.

b. General Requirements

EDA expects applicants to address several general requirements in their Tech Hubs Competition application materials (see section D.2. below).

How do I know what to apply for?

Designation Only

“Our region is ready to apply for Implementation funding and does not need a Strategy Development Grant to further organize.”

Both Designation and a Strategy Development Grant

“Our region is close to ready to apply for Implementation funding, and additional resources would strengthen our coordination, planning, and Phase 2 application development.”

A Strategy Development Grant Only

“Our region has relevant assets, resources, capacity, and/or potential, but we need to do significantly more coordination and planning to be ready for Implementation funding. We do not wish to apply for Implementation funding this year.”

Whether a region chooses to apply for a Strategy Development Grant won’t affect EDA’s Designation decisions—each will be evaluated separately. See sections D.2., E.1.a., and E.1.b.

i. What constitutes a region for purposes of the Tech Hubs Competition?

EDA defines a Hub’s geography as a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or a similar area (including Micropolitan Statistical Areas (μSAs) or tightly interconnected combinations of MSAs and/or μSAs)1 with a concentration of assets, capital, R&D, labor market, and infrastructure strongly relevant to the Hub’s selected core technology area, the Hub’s identified market opportunity, and its potential to become globally competitive in that area within a decade. Applicants should identify their chosen geography as part of their application. Applicants should consider their chosen geography as the nexus of the Tech Hub but may include partnerships outside that geography as part of the hub. Consortia may include assets or members outside the chosen geography—e.g., in nonmetro rural areas or partnerships with geographically distant but tightly mission-aligned organizations—that support the consortia’s strategy and benefit the Hub.

ii. What technologies are considered key focus areas?

A consortium must select and its application must clearly identify a selected core technology area within or at the intersection of one or more of the key technology focus areas (KTFAs) listed below that the Tech Hub, if Designated, will focus on (see the diagram below for examples of potential relationships between KFTAs and selected core technology areas).

The key technology focus areas under this NOFO are:

(1) Artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomy, and related advances;

(2) High performance computing, semiconductors, and advanced computer hardware and software;

(3) Quantum information science and technology;

(4) Robotics, automation, and advanced manufacturing;

(5) Natural and anthropogenic disaster prevention or mitigation;

(6) Advanced communications technology and immersive technology;

(7) Biotechnology, medical technology, genomics, antd synthetic biology;

(8) Data storage, data management, distributed ledger technologies, and cybersecurity, including biometrics;

(9) Advanced energy and industrial efficiency technologies, such as batteries and advanced nuclear technologies, including but not limited to for the purposes of electric generation (consistent with 42 U.S.C. § 1874); and

(10) Advanced materials science, including composites 2D materials, other next-generation materials, and related manufacturing technologies.

This list is drawn from 42 U.S.C. § 19107, as directed by the Tech Hubs statute.2 The Tech Hub may select a core technology area that falls within a single KTFA or crosses multiple KTFAs where the Hub has the potential to become within a reasonable time a self-sustaining, globally competitive leader in that selected core technology area’s market. EDA encourages each consortium to identify a selected core technology area with a defined market opportunity and for which the consortium has a clearly articulable competitive advantage. EDA will seek to Designate regions that have chosen their most

1 See https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-maps/2020/demo/state-maps.html for current maps of MSAs and μSAs. Note that these delineations are scheduled to be updated in the coming months.

2 The National Science Foundation is required to review and update this list annually. For the purposes of both Phases 1 and 2 of the Tech Hubs Competition, EDA is relying on the initial list enacted by Congress at 42 U.S.C. § 19107(c).

https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-maps/2020/demo/state-maps.html significant technological strength from the above list as opposed to more nascent or less resourced technology areas.

Illustrations of potential relationships among Key Technology Focus Areas (KFTAs) and a coalition’s selected core technology areas

Note that the Tech Hubs program is not intended to fund basic and fundamental research nor activities intended to increase capacity to conduct such research; the National Science Foundation and other agencies fund such activities. Instead, the Tech Hubs program is intended to advance the capacities of places to commercialize, deploy, and domestically manufacture and deliver these technologies. All projects funded under both phases of the Tech Hubs Program should increase the speed and effectiveness with which industry and other organizations transition technologies upward from Technology Readiness Levels six through nine.3

iii. What entities are eligible to apply for Strategy Development Grants, Designation, and Implementation Grants?

Consortia are eligible to apply for Designation and for grants under both phases of the Tech Hubs Program. For purposes of this program, each consortium must include at least one of each of the following entity types (see section C.1. for statutory citations for some entity types):

(1) Institutions of higher education, which may include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges or Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions;

(2) State, territorial, local, or Tribal governments or other political subdivisions of a State, including State and local agencies, or a consortium thereof;

(3) Industry groups or firms in relevant technology, innovation, or manufacturing sectors;

3 Different objectives and technology domains require different TRL definitions, but most TRL scales have nine levels. See, e.g., U.S. Government Accountability Office, Technology Readiness Assessment Guide, GAO-20-48G, App. IV at 115-21 (Jan. 2020), available at https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-48g.pdf. Because this program seeks to advance technologies across a broad array of domains, EDA is not selecting specific TRL definitions but is adopting the common nine-level structure.

KTFA #1 KTFA #2

KTFA

#3 https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-48g.pdf

(4) Economic development organizations or similar entities that are focused primarily on improving science, technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, or access to capital; and

(5) Labor organizations or workforce training organizations, which may include State and local workforce development boards.

EDA encourages two or more firms directly relevant to the consortium’s selected core technology area to participate as members of the consortium. EDA will be evaluating the quality of the firms’ proposed participation in the consortium, rather than the quantity of firms participating in it. EDA also encourages the participation of labor organizations, including state labor federations, or other organizations representing workers as direct members of the consortium. EDA expects that all consortia members, including labor unions and federations, will be given equal opportunity to participate in consortia planning efforts.

Consortia may also include one or more of:

(1) Economic development entities with relevant expertise, including a district organization;

(2) Organizations that contribute to increasing the participation of underserved populations in science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship;

(3) Venture development organizations;

(4) Organizations that promote local economic stability, high-wage domestic jobs, and broad-based economic opportunities, such as employee ownership membership associations and State or local employee ownerships and cooperative development centers, financial institutions and investment funds, including community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions;

(5) Elementary schools and secondary schools, including area career and technical education schools;

(6) National Laboratories;

(7) Federal laboratories;

(8) Manufacturing extension centers;

(9) Manufacturing USA Institutes;

(10) Transportation planning organizations;

(11) Cooperative extension services;

(12) Organizations that represent the perspectives of underserved communities in economic development initiatives; and

(13) Institutions receiving an award under the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional

Innovation Engines program.

EDA will evaluate the consortium based on the quality of the partnerships and the relevance of the members to the consortium’s strategy, rather than on the quantity of participating members. See section E.1. of this NOFO for guidance on how EDA will evaluate the quality of the assembled consortia.

A more complete description of the above entities may be found in section C.1. of this NOFO.

iv. Are there any special considerations on how we organize the consortia?

EDA does not require that the consortium have a formal legal structure (i.e., a contractual arrangement or public-private partnership). EDA, however, does expect that consortium members are actively collaborating and aligned behind the content of their Phase 1 application.

EDA requires that each consortium identify a lead consortium member, which commits to:

• be the principal applicant for the Phase 1 Strategy Development Grant and/or Phase 1 Designation;

• serve as EDA’s main point of contact during the competition and implementation;

• be the employer of the Regional Innovation Officer (RIO) or have an established relationship with that employer (see below for a description of the purpose of the RIO);

• serve as the central coordinator of the consortium by leading or otherwise having a significant role in the consortium’s governance;

• convene public, private, academic, labor, and civic leaders to facilitate regional cohesiveness in maximizing the region’s competitiveness;

• establish and maintain communication between the consortium and EDA to enable and accelerate collaboration and support; and

• ensure funding and other assistance provided by EDA and any other partners are absorbed effectively within communities.

In the event the consortium is Designated in Phase 1 and wins a Phase 2 Implementation award, the lead member will have additional duties related to the ongoing governance structure of the collection of implementation projects funded to ensure they remain cohesive and coordinated. Governance in this context means ensuring that the consortium is communicating and coordinating activities and outcomes. The lead member may also receive funding for specific implementation project(s) in Phase 2.

These details will be further addressed in the forthcoming Phase 2 NOFO.

As well as identifying a lead, EDA expects letters of commitment from all the other members of the consortium (or one letter with signatures from all members) evidencing that each consortium member has read the application and is committed to executing its roles, responsibilities, or commitments related to the Tech Hub. Such commitments might expand and become more specific in Phase 2, including applying for and executing an individual component project or making hiring, match funding, or policy change commitments for the overall benefit of the competitiveness of the Tech Hub.

EDA also expects that the exact membership of the consortium may change over time and views it as a success if more members join or the membership is refined to reflect the exact parameters of the Phase 1 Strategy Development grant or, if Designated as a Tech Hub, the strategy that emerges in the consortium’s application for a Phase 2 Implementation Grant.

v. What is the purpose of the Regional Innovation Officer?

A common problem within regional innovation ecosystems is the lack of cross-institutional leadership.

While chambers of commerce and other civic institutions represent the regional economy, the rules, Are EDA Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) Finalists and Winners eligible to participate in the Tech Hubs Competition?

Yes, provided that they meet the other eligibility criteria for the Tech Hubs competition and, if they are applying for funding, are only seeking funding for a scope of work separate from what was funded under BBBRC. They may apply to this NOFO, in some cases with different geographic boundaries (see section A.1.b.i.) and/or different consortium members.

processes, and programs that drive innovation can be locked within firms and research institutions. This fragmentation of practices can hurt a region’s ability to increase its scale and make it difficult for external firms, investors, entrepreneurs, and workers to collaborate and succeed in the region. The purpose of the RIO is to encourage each region to identify a strong individual to lead its overall innovation agenda. While some coalitions will not have their RIOs identified in Phase 1, EDA expects each applicant at a minimum to have articulated a clear plan for identifying the individual and to have described clearly the profile of the future RIO. For those with an identified RIO, EDA requires applicants to provide their resume. Among their responsibilities, the RIO will be accountable for ensuring clear and effective governance and leadership of the consortium.

vi. How should applicants consider climate and environmental responsibility?

The Department understands that industries can both reduce their environmental impact and further their competitive advantage by pursuing net-zero goals and accounting for current and future weather-and climate-related risks. Applicants are expected to design their projects to minimize the potential for adverse impacts on the environment and the local community, including communities with environmental justice concerns. Applicants should also account for or have a plan to account for current and future weather- and climate-related risks, such as wildfires, droughts, extreme heat and cold, inland and coastal flooding, and the extreme winds produced by tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather events.

vii. How should applicants consider equity?

Consistent with Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government and Executive Order 14091, Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, and EDA’s Equity Investment Priority, EDA expects projects to advance equity to underserved and underrepresented populations4 to the extent practicable.

Specifically, applicants are expected to articulate which populations or communities will benefit from the project and how the project will provide for inclusive community engagement, ensuring that the economic benefits of the project will be shared by all communities in the project area, including any underserved communities.

c. Strategy Development Grants

An applicant to the Tech Hubs Phase 1 NOFO may apply for a Strategy Development Grant. Such grants are intended to facilitate a region to prepare to apply for an Implementation Grant or to prepare for potential future rounds of Designation, if EDA receives additional Tech Hubs appropriations. There are consortia that may be strong candidates for Designation (discussed below in section A.1.d.) that may not have a compelling case for a Strategy Development Grant. As such, a Strategy Development Grant should help the consortium significantly increase local coordination and planning activities to be more competitive on the seven items discussed in the Designation section below (A.1.d.). Applications will be evaluated based on how well they do that.

Strategy Development Grants may fund the following types of activities:

4 Underserved and underrepresented populations and communities include but are not limited to persons who rent their home, racial and ethnic minorities, limited English proficiency (LEP) populations, persons with disabilities, and racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, among other communities.

(1) Coordination of a locally defined planning processes, across jurisdictions and agencies, relating to developing a comprehensive regional technology strategy;

(2) Identification of regional partnerships for developing and implementing a comprehensive regional technology strategy;

(3) Implementation or updating of assessments to determine regional needs and capabilities;

(4) Development or updating of goals and strategies to implement an existing comprehensive regional plan;

(5) Identification or implementation of planning, local zoning, and other changes to code, law, or policy necessary to implement a comprehensive regional technology strategy;

(6) Development of plans for promoting broad-based economic growth, creating good paying jobs, assessing job quality,5 and helping students and workers gain the skills for, secure, and advance in good jobs and careers to develop a qualified workforce related to the consortium’s selected core technology area within a region;

(7) Hiring of the coalition’s RIO to lead the overall effort; and

(8) Activities necessary to prepare for strategy implementation, which may include workforce development strategies and environmental and engineering documentation, if applicable.

In submitting the required application materials (see section D.2. below), the applicant should describe its proposed planning activities in the required Project Narrative, whether included on the above list or additional.

In addition, EDA will ensure geographic diversity and representation in the awarding of Strategy Development Grants. Thus, by statute:

(1) Not fewer than one-third of Strategy Development Grants must go to eligible consortia that significantly benefit a small and rural community6 and

(2) Not fewer than one-third of grants must go to eligible consortia that include as a member of the consortia at least one member that is a State or territory that is eligible to receive funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) of the National Science Foundation.7 EPSCoR States and territories are set through FY 2027 and include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, US Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

These two categories may overlap such that one grantee may count toward meeting both requirements.

EDA expects each applicant to identify those geographic criteria that might apply to their respective region in their application materials (see section D.2. below).

By statute, Strategy Development Grants may not be used as a prerequisite for Implementation Grants.

5 See, e.g., https://www.dol.gov/general/good-jobs/principles.

6 “The term ‘small and rural community’ means a noncore area, a micropolitan area, or a small metropolitan statistical area with a population of not more than 250,000.” 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(a)(8).

7 EPSCoR States are determined annually by the National Science Foundation (NSF) based on the proportion of NSF funding each State receives within certain periods of time. See 42 U.S.C. § 13503(b)(3) (2021); NAT’L SCI. FOUND., EPSCoR Criteria for Eligibility, https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/epscor-criteria-eligibility (last visited Feb. 14, 2023).

https://www.dol.gov/general/good-jobs/principles https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/epscor-criteria-eligibility

d. Designation

An applicant to the Tech Hubs Phase 1 NOFO may apply to be Designated as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub. Only applicants Designated at the conclusion of Phase 1 of the Competition will be permitted to apply for Implementation Grants under the Tech Hubs Phase 2 NOFO.

Designation is a strong signal from EDA about a region’s assets, resources, and capabilities, including that the region is in a position where an investment over the next five years can catalyze their emergence over the next decade as a self-sustainable, globally competitive region in a particular technological area(s). EDA’s evaluation of a region’s potential is detailed in section E.1. and must be addressed in the applicant’s application materials (see section D.2. below).

For a consortium to demonstrate that their region is ready for Designation, they should address:

(1) Technology-based potential of the region for global competitiveness: Consistent with 15 U.S.C.

§3722a(b)(1)(C)(i), the Tech Hubs Program is intended to enable US leadership in technology and innovation sectors critical to national and economic security. Therefore, a Designated Tech Hub should be in a position to become globally competitive in a KTFA within the next decade, if they receive a Phase 2 Implementation award and any additional, expected commitments. In Phase 2 of this program, EDA expects to award approximately $50-75 million ($65 million on average) to each Phase 2 Implementation Grant awardee toward this goal, so the ability of that level of funding to help catalyze a region into being globally competitive will be particularly germane, though not determinative. To show their potential to be globally competitive, the region must inventory the existing assets, resources, and capabilities of the region—including relevant companies and their commitments to specific actions and approaches that support the region’s growth—that will be enhanced or brought together with the EDA funding. In this vein, applicants should identify relevant ongoing State and local development programs and investment from other relevant Federal programs—such as the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Regional Innovation Engines, Department of Energy programs, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development programs, education and training programs from the Departments of Education and Labor, and National Institute of Standards and Technology programs—that will complement and amplify their impact (and that will not duplicate those other investments). EDA will not fund basic and fundamental research nor activities intended to increase capacity to conduct such research—regions should demonstrate significant existing market-relevant scientific capacity. EDA will also not fund a region that, absent EDA funding, is on a clear path to global competitiveness. Applicants should clearly describe the nature and magnitude of the consortium’s selected core technology area’s economic opportunity, including, e.g., reasonable, data-based, and justified forecasts of the future size of the global market, the region’s future share of that market, and the number and earning potential of related jobs.

This requirement includes the statutory considerations found at 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(h)(1) (potential to advance development, deployment, and domestic manufacturing KTFA) and (12) (sustainability of the consortium).

(2) Role of the private sector: A Designated Tech Hub—including its consortium—should have clear, prominent, and strong private sector participation, especially from firms in the consortium’s selected core technology. EDA encourages two or more firms in the consortium’s selected core technology to participate as direct members of the consortium. EDA also encourages the consortium’s strategy to recognize the importance of private capital that meets the needs of technologies and companies at various stages in their development and maturity.

The robustness of the private sector’s commitment to and ability to benefit from the region’s strategy and EDA’s investments—including startups, existing firms in cluster, other firms in the supply chain, small-and-medium sized and employee-owned businesses and cooperatives, and venture and financial institutions8—will be one factor that will be considered. There are many ways the private sector can be an important partner, including commitments of funding, investments, hiring, good labor and business practices, or community ties. EDA expects regions to articulate their own strategy. The application must include written documentation from each firm in the consortium, evidencing that each firm has read the application and is committed to executing its role in the consortium, including any specific commitments (e.g., funding, hiring).

As with all letters of support, EDA puts a premium on quality over quantity.

This requirement includes the statutory considerations found at 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(h)(4) (engagement with the private sector to commercialize new technologies and improve the resiliency and sustainability of domestic supply chains in sectors critical to national security and economic competitiveness) and (7) (partnerships with sources of private investment in support of private sector activity).

(3) Regional coordination & partnerships: For a consortium to successfully become globally competitive, there must be strong alignment and a shared strategic vision amongst all the consortium’s membership. EDA would like to understand how the sum of the consortium members is greater than its parts. In that regard, any history of working together in the past and achieving concrete successes will be relevant. EDA recognizes and expects that consortium membership may change over the course of the Competition, especially between Phase 1 and Phase 2: new members may join, and, as the consortium’s plans solidify, the involvement of particular members may become more or less relevant. Designation requires a holistic understanding of the relevant regional institutions and assets, a clear collaboration model, and strong leadership.

This requirement includes the statutory considerations found at 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(h)(8) (organization of activities of regional partners) and (11) (alignment of education institutions activities with selected core technology area).

(4) Equity & diversity: EDA expects applicants to describe clearly how the consortium and other partners and stakeholders will actively engage underserved communities in planning and how benefits from the tech hub will be shared equitably, which may include but are not limited to increasing the number of high-wage, high-quality domestic jobs—including union jobs— available to residents in the Tech Hub; removing barriers to good jobs, particularly for those without college degrees who are disproportionately from underserved communities, including by partnering with community colleges; creating new economic opportunities for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented populations (including rural populations); increasing opportunities for minority business enterprises and socially and economically disadvantaged individual owned businesses; and building and retaining wealth in the region as part of supporting broad-based economic growth. EDA seeks evidence-driven equity and inclusion initiatives, including those that effectively support more historically underrepresented innovators and those that focus on a core technology area that includes significant job

8 As described in section C.1. this includes community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions.

opportunities for a wide range of skill and experience levels. Consortium members’ historical commitments to equity and diversity and their prior concrete successes related to equity and diversity will be relevant. The application should include letters of support from entities that represent underserved communities, businesses, and workers. As with all letters of support, EDA puts a premium on quality over quantity.

This requirement includes the statutory considerations found at 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(h)(2) (creating new economic opportunities for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented populations), (5) (partnerships with community colleges, HBCUs, MSIs, Tribal Colleges and Universities), (6) (STEM opportunities), (9) (support of local and regional businesses through procurement), and (10) (ensure that growth produces opportunities across the region and for economically disadvantaged, minority, underrepresented and rural populations; consider affordable housing availability and primary and secondary education).

(5) Composition and capacity of the regional workforce: To become globally competitive, a region must not only have an R&D advantage in one or more KTFAs, but also have the workforce and workforce development systems necessary to scale. Once the technology becomes more widespread, the region needs to demonstrate the ability to maintain its competitiveness and scale the regional workforce in the consortium’s selected core technology area, including opportunities for workers with relevant skills but without four-year college degrees and strategies to retain both U.S. and foreign-born students in the region as entrepreneurs and workers. Applications should include qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the current regional workforce, specifically the subsets most relevant to the consortium’s selected core technology area. The application should describe further how the region will grow and evolve its STEM workforce—including by developing pipelines from within the region itself and its underserved populations—to continue to meet the needs of companies and research institutions in the consortium’s selected core technology area (and its supply and value chains), whether with existing or new workforce development capacity, in line with DOC’s workforce best practices9 and Commerce and Labor Departments’ Good Jobs Principles.10 Applications also should describe how workforce development programs and organizations representing workers, including labor organizations, will collaborate within the consortium and region to increase job quality and the quantity of good jobs in the selected core technology area.11 EDA encourages labor organizations, labor federations, or organizations representing workers to participate as direct participants in the consortium.

This requirement includes the statutory considerations found at 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(h)(1) (potential to advance development, deployment, and domestic manufacturing of technologies critical to national security and economic competitiveness), (2) (likelihood of positive regional economic effect, including increasing the number of high wage domestic jobs), (5) (workforce development and skills acquisition

9 See https://www.commerce.gov/issues/workforce-development.

10 For more information on what constitutes a good job, see https://www.dol.gov/general/good-jobs/principles.

11 Collaborations could include labor-management training programs or increasing access to debt-free or affordable high-quality preparation for those jobs through, e.g., Registered Apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeship programs, and Career and Technical Education programs.

https://www.commerce.gov/issues/workforce-development programming), and (10) (ensure that growth produces opportunity across the identified region and for economically disadvantaged, minority, underrepresented and rural populations).

(6) Innovative “lab to market” approaches: A critical element of becoming a Tech Hub is successfully translating science into market opportunities. EDA intends to encourage and reward regions that can identify new and/or scaled-up proven existing models (e.g., innovative procurement policies and practices) that will overcome commercialization barriers and bring technologies and ideas to the market. Applicants, teams, and institutions should primarily pursue technology transfer policies and programs that promote global competitiveness (not those that merely promote pure academic research output), that leverage the resources of their key R&D assets, and that prioritize U.S. technology creation and production while promoting U.S. ownership of intellectual property (IP). Applicants should discuss methods of translating research into local economic competitiveness (e.g., specific programs, policies, incentives and practices)—including evidence that supports the success of those methods. Applicants should also discuss the new or scaled-up programs and policies consortium members plan to pursue.

This requirement includes the statutory considerations found at 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(h)(3) (leverage the resources of federally funded research and development), (9) (support local and regional businesses through procurement), and (11) (alignment of education institutions’ activities).

(7) Impact on economic and national security of the entire United States: The Tech Hubs Program is designed to bolster regional competitiveness to strengthen the United States’ leadership in technologies critical to economic and national security and that will create jobs and domestic production in the United States. As a new tool to support American domestic and foreign policy, the Tech Hubs program requires that applicants clearly articulate how their success at becoming globally competitive in their selected core technology area supports national priorities.

Economic and national security are tightly intertwined with a variety of national priorities ranging among climate change, supply chain resiliency, accelerating the pace of innovation in critical technologies, and beyond.12 Successful applicants will focus their strategies and investments in areas that serve their regional economies as well as U.S. economic and national security and will demonstrate the likelihood of positive regional economic effect.

This requirement includes the statutory considerations found at 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(h)(1) (critical to national security and economic competitiveness), (2) (building and retaining wealth in the region), (12) (durability of the consortium’s impacts), and (13) (enhance economic, environmental, and energy security of the U.S. by promoting domestic innovative clean technologies and advanced manufacturing practices).

Additionally, by statute, EDA is required to Designate at least 20 Tech Hubs while seeking to comply with the following geographic constraints:

12 The following strategies are helpful in identifying the technology’s impact on national security considerations:

the 100-day supply chain reviews produced pursuant to Executive Order 14017, Building Resilient Supply Chains, Revitalizing American Manufacturing, and Fostering Broad-Based Growth; the National Security Strategy’s (Oct.

2022) discussion of climate change and other technological areas; Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad; and CHIPS for America, A Strategy for the CHIPS for America Fund.

(1) At least three Tech Hubs are Designated in each area covered by an EDA Regional Office. See the below map depicting the States covered by each EDA Regional Office. Note that the Seattle Regional Office covers Hawaii, Alaska, and the Pacific U.S. Territories while the Philadelphia Regional Office covers the Atlantic U.S. Territories.

(2) Not fewer than one-third of Designated eligible consortia significantly benefit a small and rural community.

(3) Not fewer than one-third of Designated eligible consortia include as a member of the consortia at least one member that is a State or territory that is eligible to receive funding from the EPSCoR of the NSF. Again, EPSCoR States and territories are set through FY 2027 and include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, US Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

(4) At least one Designated eligible consortium is headquartered in a low population State13 that is eligible to receive funding from the EPSCoR of the NSF. States that meet this definition include Alaska, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

13 The term “low population State” means a State without an urbanized area with a population greater than 250,000 as reported in the decennial census.

(5) Designate two additional tech hubs based on the extent to which the regional technology and innovation hub significantly engages and benefits underserved communities in and near metropolitan areas.

Consortia may fulfill one or more of the above five requirements.

Further, in Designating eligible consortia, EDA encourages eligible consortia to leverage institutions of higher education serving populations historically underrepresented in STEM, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges or Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions to significantly benefit an area or region.

Lastly, in Designating eligible consortia, EDA encourages proposals from eligible consortia that would significantly benefit an area or region whose economy significantly relies on or has recently relied on coal, oil, or natural gas production or development.

EDA expects each applicant to identify those geographic criteria that might apply to their respective region in their application materials (see section D.2. below).

e. Implementation Grants

Given that EDA will award Implementation Grants competitively under the Tech Hubs Phase 2 NOFO to a subset of consortia Designated under the Tech Hubs Phase 1 NOFO, it is instructive to understand the types of activities that might be funded with Implementation Grants.

Implementation Grants can fund a wide range of non-construction and construction activities that aim to increase regional capacity across the following four broad categories: workforce development, business and entrepreneur development, technology maturation, and infrastructure.14 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. EDA expects workforce development activities to be in line with DOC’s workforce best practices15, support placement into good jobs, including union jobs, and incorporate worker input into their design and delivery.16

In each Tech Hub selected for Implementation Grants, EDA expects to fund approximately 3-8 tightly aligned projects that aim to collectively address the region’s key inhibitors of global competitiveness at a total funding level of approximately $50-75 million ($65 million on average) for each Tech Hub that is selected under the Phase 2 NOFO for Implementation funding.17

Investment Examples within the Regional Tech Hubs Program

Like a previous EDA competition, the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (see https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/american-rescue-plan/build-back-better), the Tech Hubs Program seeks to invest in multiple, simultaneous, interconnected projects that accelerate regional economic development. The Tech Hubs Program is aggressively focused on investing in activities that

14 See 15 U.S.C. § 3722a(f)(2) for a more comprehensive list of allowable activities within these four broad categories.

15 See https://www.commerce.gov/issues/workforce-development.

16 For more information on what constitutes a good job, see https://www.dol.gov/general/good-jobs/principles.

17 The statutory authority envisions possible future investments for consortia that receive Implementation funding.

This may be possible in the future depending on future Congressional appropriations.

https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/american-rescue-plan/build-back-better https://www.commerce.gov/issues/workforce-development will enable a region that already has R&D assets in a manner that catalyzes their emergence over the next decade as self-sustainably, globally economically competitive in its selected core technology area.

For example, such an investment might be highly targeted within several interrelated projects that will leverage existing technical expertise to accelerate both the regional economy and American competitiveness, such as the following:

• a “first of its kind”, world-class demonstration facility or testbed that provides startups access to shared facilities to bring products and services in a consortium’s selected core technology area to market faster;

• a strategy to bring entrepreneurship- and industry-focused faculty researchers and innovators to the university and national lab that have a proven track record of creating new startups in a consortium’s selected core technology area (researchers would have joint appointments at the lab, university, and private sector companies);

• a program that ensures workers collaborate directly in the demonstration of new technologies to inform the design of those technologies—as well as their deployment, production, and delivery— with the perspective, experience, and input of workers;

• the re-purposing of an existing site or facility (such as a former auto or coal plant or other brownfield) to promote the advance of the core technology;

• a network of industry-focused workforce training programs via which workers would be trained on cutting edge technologies on the job or at the demonstration facility;

• partnerships with organizations that support employer adoption of hiring and employment practices that tap into the talents of existing workers and remove barriers to good jobs, such as skills-based recruitment and hiring practices;

• a technology supply chain program that helps existing small manufacturers throughout the region purchase the necessary equipment and hire workers that allow it to transition into domestic manufacturing in the supply chains of the consortium’s selected core technology area (small businesses would have access to the demonstration facility to try out new machinery);

• an “Office of Regional Innovation” led by the new RIO to spearhead the entire industry transition strategy, ensure common industry engagement between the labs and universities and oversee industry partnerships at the new demonstration facility and ensure they are well-staffed with industry-focused economic development and technology practitioners;

• a region-wide strategy, specific to the consortium-selected core technology area, to blend and braid multiple funding sources and programs around industry’s needs related to the consortium’s selected core technology area; and

• a capital networks strategy that crowds in and syndicates significant follow-on funding.

Policy Examples within the Regional Tech Hubs Program

EDA recognizes most regions will need to undertake significant new commercialization policies and programming to accelerate their growth and achieve global competitiveness. While EDA acknowledges many new policies will not be ready within the Phase 1 application period, it is highly likely that EDA will fund implementation strategies in Phase 2…