A consortium led by the New River Valley Regional Commission has been selected for a highly competitive $500,000 federal Tech Hubs Strategy Development Grant.
“This is exciting news and a testament to our region’s burgeoning prowess in additive manufacturing and applied materials,” said Kevin Byrd, executive director of the New River Valley Regional Commission. “This award will accelerate our work to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers adopt and implement these new technologies, grow their business, and create jobs at all skill levels.”
The U.S. Economic Development Administration received more than 400 applications for the Tech Hubs Program. It was created as part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to drive innovation by strengthening a region’s capacity to manufacture, commercialize, and deploy critical technologies.
On Monday, the EDA announced it has designated 31 Tech Hubs and awarded 29 Strategy Development Grants in Phase 1 of the program. Tech Hub designees are eligible to apply for a handful of $40 million to $70 million implementation grants that will be awarded in Phase 2.
A New River Valley partnership comprised of the New River Valley Regional Commission, the Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement, and Onward NRV received close to $100,000 for the NRV Materials and Machinery Cluster Scale-Up project. According to the GO Virginia Region 2 press release, the NRV Materials and Machinery Cluster Scale-Up will “build upon the successful application to the U.S. Economic Development Administration for a Tech Hubs designation” and will map “out assets and resources that could support ecosystem growth and transformation of the cluster.”
