Notice2023-03022
Request for Information on Implementation of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 14, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentEconomic Development Administration
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, through the Economic Development Administration (EDA), is seeking information to inform the planning and design of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs) program. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform planning for the implementation of the Tech Hubs program.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 30 (Tuesday, February 14, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 14, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9427-9429]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03022]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Economic Development Administration
Request for Information on Implementation of the Regional
Technology and Innovation Hub Program
AGENCY: Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, through the Economic Development
Administration (EDA), is seeking information to inform the planning and
design of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs)
program. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform
planning for the implementation of the Tech Hubs program.
DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on March 16,
2023. Submissions received after that date may not be considered.
Written comments in response to this RFI should be submitted in
accordance with the instructions in the Addresses and Supplementary
Information sections below.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#413524222929342332012425206f262e37"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="512534323939243322113435307f363e27">[email protected]</span></a>. Do not submit confidential business
information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Smith, Director, Office of
Innovation and Entrepreneurship, via email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7d09181e1515081f0e3d18191c531a120b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="deaabbbdb6b6abbcad9ebbbabff0b9b1a8">[email protected]</span></a> or via
telephone at (202) 482-5081. Please reference ``Tech Hubs RFI'' in the
subject line of your correspondence. You may find additional
information on EDA at <a href="http://www.eda.gov">www.eda.gov</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 10621 of the Research and Development, Competition, and
Innovation Act authorizes the Department of Commerce to designate
geographically distributed regional technology and innovation hubs and
to award strategy development grants and strategy implementation grants
to eligible consortia (15 U.S.C. 3722a; Pub. L. 117-167, Division B,
Title VI, Subtitle C, Sec. 10621(a)(2), 136 Stat. 1642). Tech Hubs will
focus on technology development, job creation, entrepreneurial
development, and expanding U.S. innovation capacity. Of the $10 billion
authorized for the Tech Hubs program from Federal fiscal year 2023
through Federal fiscal year 2027, $500 million has been made available
for the Tech Hubs program as of the publication of this RFI.
Section 10621 of the Research and Development, Competition, and
Innovation Act provides that the Tech Hubs program shall:
(A) Encourage constructive collaborations among a wide range of new
and traditional economic development stakeholders, including public and
private sector entities;
(B) Support the development and implementation of regional
innovation strategies;
(C) Designate regional technology and innovation hubs and
facilitate the following implementation activities:
(i) Enable United States leadership in technology and innovation
sectors critical to national and economic security.
(ii) Support regional economic development and resilience,
including in small cities and rural areas, and promote increased
geographic diversity of innovation across the United States;
(iii) Promote the benefits of technology development and innovation
for all Americans, including underserved communities and vulnerable
communities;
(iv) Support the modernization and expansion of United States
manufacturing based on advances in technology and innovation;
(v) Support domestic job creation and broad-based economic growth;
and
(vi) Improve the pace of market readiness, industry maturation, and
overall commercialization and domestic production of innovative
research;
(D) Ensure that the regional technology and innovation hubs address
the intersection of emerging technologies and either regional
challenges or national challenges; and
(E) Conduct ongoing research, evaluation, analysis, and
dissemination of best practices for regional development and
competitiveness in technology and innovation.
[[Page 9428]]
The Tech Hubs program is an economic development initiative to
drive technology- and innovation-centric growth that leverages existing
R&D strengths and technology demonstration and deployment capacities
(public and private) within a region to catalyze the creation of good
jobs for American workers at all skill levels equitably and
inclusively.
EDA intends to run a rigorous, fair, and evidence-driven
competition informed by the vision and experiences of all stakeholders,
technology practitioners, and relevant policy research to guide program
design, structure, and evaluation, and to aim for the strongest
geographic and demographic diversity among hubs. This RFI seeks to
encourage the field of regional innovation and economic development to
provide evidence-based input that will be used to inform the design and
implementation of the Tech Hubs program to maximize American
competitiveness. The following sections provide specific requests for
information, group into a number of categories.
Specific Request for Information: Tech Hubs Characteristics
1. What are the indicia of a successful future Tech Hub?
a. What are the defining features of a region that indicate that a
Tech Hub will take hold, and how will EDA know if Tech Hubs succeed?
b. What existing assets and resources that generate, support, and
enable technology innovation, demonstration, and deployment should Tech
Hubs have? How does a Tech Hub leverage those assets and resources
collaboratively?
c. When designating Tech Hubs, what additional geographic,
demographic, or other place-specific factors or data should EDA
consider?
d. Are there specific metrics that EDA should consider for
designating Tech Hubs?
e. What are the technological considerations that EDA should
consider?
2. How might EDA determine how the size and timing of investments
will best accelerate a future Tech Hub's evolution into a global leader
in an industry of the future that strengthens its region and our
economic and national security? What data and information are important
to that determination?
3. What are historical and existing examples of successful regional
hub programs and what can be learned from these examples?
4. How might EDA determine the relative competitiveness of proposed
Tech Hubs in the context of current and future global competition, in
addition to domestic competition?
Specific Request for Information: Tech Hubs Program Design
Models for Program Design
5. Please share specific examples of evidence-based or evidence-
informed investments, interventions, or policies, including those
implemented in other countries, that would support technology-based
economic development, particularly at the scale required to enable U.S.
leadership in technology and innovation sectors critical to economic
and national security.
a. What limitations currently prevent EDA from investing,
intervening, or making policies in these ways? For example, are there
statutory, regulatory, policy, design, or implementation issues with
current EDA programs or operations that inhibit or prohibit EDA in some
way? Are there other Federal organizations that have overcome these
issues?
6. Are there specific workforce and labor development, business and
entrepreneurial development, technology development and maturation, or
infrastructure activities that EDA should emphasize through the
program?
7. How should EDA consider worker and community input in Tech Hub
design?
8. What are some of the most innovative approaches to
commercialization at research institutions (e.g., universities,
national labs) and what evidence exists on the effectiveness of these
approaches?
9. What are some of the most innovative approaches to ensuring the
growth of globally competitive industries occurs in an inclusive and
equitable manner? Where possible, please provide examples of evidence-
based and/or evidence-informed investments, interventions, or policies
that drive inclusive and equitable outcomes.
Funding and Support
10. Please share best-in-class ideas for inclusive and accessible
competition processes for the Tech Hubs program, including examples of
best-in-class regional competitions in the United States or
internationally.
11. How should EDA evaluate the extent to which certain technology
and innovation sectors are critical to national and economic security?
How should EDA take into account whether a consortium would help
promote increased geographic diversity of innovation?
12. How can Federal designations and Federal grants be structured
to maximize the desired impacts of the Tech Hubs program?
13. What other existing Federal programs can complement Tech Hubs?
14. In addition to existing Federal programs, what types of
benefits or support could be helpful for ``designated'' regional Tech
Hubs?
15. What should EDA consider in designing the program for its
current appropriation of $500 million given the $10 billion vision in
the program's statutory authorization? How should those considerations
affect EDA's design of the program now and potentially into future
years?
16. How should EDA evaluate the effectiveness and return on public-
private partnerships or other collaborative arrangements that may
emerge from the Tech Hubs?
17. What criteria should EDA use to shift investments within or
between Tech Hubs to maximize the impact of the program?
18. What else should EDA consider when building this program,
including but not limited to alignment with other Federal programs?
Specific Request for Information: Tech Hubs Program Administration
19. How should EDA measure whether the Tech Hubs program has been
successful in achieving these outcomes, and how might EDA capture those
data?
a. What are the indicia of successful investments under the Tech
Hubs program? What, if any, earlier-in-time proxies are predictive of
those indicia?
b. What is a realistic time horizon over which to evaluate the
economic development, national security, and global competitiveness
impacts of Tech Hubs? Which measures are meaningful over which time
horizons (e.g., five, ten, fifteen years)?
20. What desirable organizational and institutional changes within
and among tech hubs' participants, beneficiaries, and other
stakeholders could the Tech Hubs program competition incentivize? How
could those changes be incentivized, and how could those changes be
measured?
21. How can EDA ensure input from, and engagement with, community
members in the administration of the Tech Hubs program, particularly
for underserved community members?
22. What are unique challenges faced by Established Program to
Stimulate
[[Page 9429]]
Competitive Research (EPSCoR) \1\ state-based consortia or rural
consortia that EDA should be aware of and account for in program
administration?
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\1\ 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, <a href="https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/epscor-criteria-eligibility">https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/epscor-criteria-eligibility</a> (last visited Jan. 26, 2023).
Dated: February 8, 2023.
Eric Smith,
Director, Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
[FR Doc. 2023-03022 Filed 2-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-24-P
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