As the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse region celebrated a successful bid to become a designated U.S. regional technology hub, hundreds of other places across the country — including Albany, Pittsburgh and Raleigh, North Carolina — didn't make the cut.
The local region was among 31 places the Biden Administration recently designated as regional tech hubs under the CHIPS and Science Act, which comes with the opportunity to compete for millions in federal funding. The three New York cities collaborated on a proposal — the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub — for the designation.
The tech hubs program is designed to invest in regional tech hubs across the U.S., putting dollars behind geographies outside of well-established hubs like Silicon Valley and Boston.
Th designation also puts the region in the running for funding to create a semiconductor manufacturing corridor from Buffalo to Syracuse, with additional money to follow. Five to 10 grants will be awarded at $75 million each, but up to $500 million in federal funds total.
Tech hub proposals that didn't make the cut
These are just some of the places that submitted tech hub proposals and weren't selected as designated hubs.
- Albany: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute led a bid to be a hub focused on biomanufacturing. Although it wasn't successful, New York landed two other tech hub designations.
- Columbus, Ohio: A coalition in central and southeast Ohio sought to be chosen as a semiconductor tech hub. Last year, Ohio was chosen over southeast Wisconsin for a $20 billion Intel Corp. semiconductor facility.
- Raleigh, North Carolina: A group near North Carolina's Research Triangle was looking to have the region designated as a hub for advanced communications and immersive technologies.
- Pittsburgh: An initiative led by the University of Pittsburgh and an organization called InnovatePGH sought to create a tech hub leveraging advanced manufacturing, life sciences and artificial intelligence.
- Sacramento, California: California State University Sacramento submitted a bid to become a hub for zero-emission vehicle technologies. However, none of the winning tech hubs were in California.
- St. Louis: A St. Louis consortium led by nonprofit startup investor BioSTL would have focused on a field called "multi-omics." Although it wasn't selected, two of the winning hubs were in other parts of Missouri.
- Tampa, Florida: The University of South Florida led a failed effort to have the Tampa Bay region designated as a cybersecurity tech hub. However, the Miami area was named a tech hub for sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure.
