Commerce selects six Tech Hubs winners for re-awarded funds

Six Tech Hubs will get a combined $169 million under Department of Commerce awards announced Monday, redistributing funds the agency clawed back from winners over a year ago. The new awardees include projects in Virginia, Idaho, Illinois and Wyoming, among other states. The focuses of those hubs range from nuclear energy to forest bioproducts. Just two of the hubs — located in Maine and Missouri — again won after their previous awards were rescinded. The award announcement from Commerce’s Economic Development Administration comes more than a year after a decision by the department to rescind over $200 million in Tech Hub awards that were made in the final days of the Biden administration, and hold a new competition. At the time, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the previous process that led to those awards “rushed, opaque, and unfair.” But while that decision frustrated supporters, it also indicated that the bipartisan regional development program aimed at bolstering the technology economy across the country would continue after questions early in the Trump administration about its future. The new awards are confirmation of the program’s support. The awards also follow a National Science Foundation announcement last week for a similar program, Regional Innovation Engines. It named 12 engines across 20 states. While the Commerce and NSF programs have historically had bipartisan support, they’re up for reauthorization in fiscal 2027.

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