The Richmond region is in line to receive millions in federal funding for an advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing initiative after the White House on Monday designated it one of 31 regional tech hubs around the country.
Part of the Biden administration's Tech Hubs program and authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act, the tech hubs effort is designed to add jobs and boost technology innovation in cities beyond the traditional powerhouse tech locales like Silicon Valley and Boston.
The program will invest "directly in burgeoning, high-potential U.S. regions and aims to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers," the Commerce Department said in a statement announcing the tech hubs.
The hubs are located across 32 states and Puerto Rico. The selected hubs include a predictive health care hub in Baltimore; a quantum computing hub in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin; an ocean tech hub in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; and a hub for sustainable plastics and rubbers in Ohio.
The tech hub regions were selected from nearly 400 applicants.
Richmond’s tech hub is being led by the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM), an applied research center and nonprofit with membership from industry, higher education and government. The group seeks to accelerate the growth, innovation and sustainability of the U.S.-based advanced pharma manufacturing industry to re-shore safe and affordable medicines through hybrid and continuous flow manufacturing technologies. CCAM is also a member of The Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a coalition of Richmond and Petersburg organizations working together to build a research and manufacturing hub for essential medicines and their ingredients. The alliance received a separate $52.9 million from the White House in 2022 to create a research and manufacturing hub for essential medicines and their ingredients.
Other members of the Richmond alliance include Activation Capital, AMPAC Fine Chemicals, Civica, Phlow Corp., Walmart, the Community College Workforce Alliance, the Greater Richmond Partnership, Medicines for All Institute, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, Virginia Commonwealth University’s college of engineering, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Virginia’s Gateway Region, Virginia State University, the city of Richmond and the city of Petersburg.
"Serving as a designated tech hub by the U.S. Department of Commerce is a reflection of the deep level of collaboration, talent and unwavering commitment to a shared mission that is firmly in place throughout the Richmond-Petersburg region," Chandra Briggman, president and CEO of Activation Capital, said in a statement.
The designation will "help us further transform the Richmond-Petersburg region into a central access point for R&D, advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing, workforce development and supply chain development," Robby Demeria, founding board chair of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine and chief corporate affairs officer at Phlow, said in a statement. "Ultimately, our work together will be measured by our ability to improve access and availability of domestically produced, high-quality medicines that are essential to the health of all communities."
By being designated a tech hub, the Richmond group can now apply to receive between $40 million and $70 million for implementation funding.
Here are all of the tech hubs announced Monday:
Safe and Effective Autonomous Systems
- Headwaters Hub – smart photonic sensor systems in Montana
- Ocean Tech Hub – ocean robotics, sensors and materials in Rhode Island and Massachusetts
- Trustworthy & Equitable Autonomous Systems Tech Hub – secure autonomous systems in Oklahoma
Maintaining Our Quantum Edge
- Elevate Quantum Colorado – quantum information technology in Colorado
- The Bloch Tech Hub – quantum computing and communications in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin
Advancing Biotechnology: Drugs and Devices
- Advanced Pharma Manufacturing Tech Hub – active pharma ingredient manufacturing in Virginia
- ReGen Valley Tech Hub – organ and tissue biofabrication in New Hampshire
- iFab Tech Hub – precision fermentation and biomanufacturing in Illinois
- Kansas City Inclusive Biologics and Biomanufacturing Tech Hub – vaccine-related biologics and manufacturing in Missouri and Kansas
- Heartland BioWorks – biologics manufacturing in Indiana
- PRBio Tech Hub – biopharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing in Puerto Rico
Advancing Biotechnology: Precision and Prediction
- Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub – personalized medicine in Wisconsin
- Baltimore Tech Hub – predictive healthcare in Baltimore
- Birmingham Biotechnology Hub – equitable AI-driven biotechnology in Alabama
- Greater Philadelphia Region Precision Medicine Tech Hub – end-to-end precision medicine in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey
- Minnesota MedTech 3.0 - smart medical technologies in Minnesota and Wisconsin
Accelerating Our Energy Transition
- Gulf Louisiana Offshore Wind Propeller – offshore wind and renewable energy in Louisiana
- Intermountain-West Nuclear Energy Tech Hub – small modular reactors and microreactors in Idaho and Wyoming
- SC Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy – clean energy supply chain in South Carolina and Georgia
- South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub – sustainable and climate resilient infrastructure in Florida
- New Energy New York (NENY) Battery Tech Hub – end-to-end battery development and manufacturing in New York
Strengthening Our Critical Minerals Supply Chain
- Critical Minerals and Materials for Advanced Energy (CM2AE) Tech Hub – critical mineral processing in Missouri
- Nevada Lithium Batteries and Other EV Material Loop – lithium batteries and electric vehicle materials in Nevada
Regaining Leadership in Semiconductor Manufacturing
- Texoma Semiconductor Innovation Consortium – fablet-based semiconductor manufacturing in Texas and Oklahoma
- Corvallis Microfluidics Tech Hub – microfluidics platforms in Oregon
- Advancing GaN Tech Hub – gallium nitride-based semiconductors in Vermont
- NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub – end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing in New York
Growing the Future of Materials Manufacturing
- Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub – sustainable plastics and rubbers in Ohio
- Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub – sustainable wood biomass polymers in Maine
- American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Tech Hub – aerospace materials manufacturing in Washington and Idaho
- Pacific Northwest Mass Timber Tech Hub – mass timber manufacturing and design in Washington and Oregon
