Commerce Department Names Winners of $500 Million Tech Hubs Competition

Qizhong Liang, a physicist at the University of Colorado Boulder, one of the main partners in the Elevate Quantum Tech Hub that won funding from the Commerce Department.
Patrick Campbell / CU Boulder
Twelve regional coalitions that aim to jumpstart technology development in their corners of the U.S. will receive $504 million in implementation funds, the Commerce Department announced
The focus areas of the hubs include quantum information, photonics, semiconductors, clean energy, sustainable polymers, climate resilience, biomanufacturing, personalized medicine, and autonomous systems. Each hub will receive between $19 million to $51 million from the department and will leverage additional contributions from coalition partners.
Among the winners is the Elevate Quantum Tech Hub
The state of Colorado is pitching in $44 million in tax credits for quantum lab construction as well as a $30 million loan loss fund for quantum companies. This support is provided through legislation that Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed
“Our region has always played a critical role in advanced technology and we’re proud to be supporting these efforts through a state investment of $74 million that was conditional on this federal award and will now be activated,” Polis said in a statement
New Mexico is another major partner in the hub and has pledged to contribute $10 million. Among the participating organizations from the state are Sandia National Labs and the University of New Mexico, which recently teamed up to form the Quantum New Mexico Institute, modeled on JILA.
Amid the competition for the tech hub awards and other quantum investments, government officials in Colorado and Illinois have prioritized
Colorado’s pitch built on the longstanding expertise in quantum information science at JILA and its federal sponsor, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which has a major campus in Boulder. The University of Colorado Boulder and JILA already host a major quantum research center
Illinois has also emerged has a hotbed for quantum technology, with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) reportedly
Illinois already hosts another
Among the other winners announced today is the Montana-based Headwaters Hub,
“We have the advantage of being able to incorporate several open-air testbeds into our plans, initially focusing on rugged terrain, precision agricultural, and on- and off-highway activities. In the future, we envision expanding into defense applications, mountain operations, and more,” the hub wrote in its pitch to the department.
The Commerce Department wanted to fund additional hubs but did not have enough money to support the top-tier applications it received.
“In my entire time in government, I’ve never seen a more popular program, on a bipartisan basis,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at a hearing
Referring to the 31 finalists, Raimondo added, “Every single one of those is worthy of funding.”
Congress set a target budget for the program of $10 billion over five years, but so far it has only provided $541 million, most of which came from a special one-time appropriation. The Biden administration has requested