The Biden administration in the United States will allocate $504 million to 12 regional technology centers to expand research in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor manufacturing, and clean energy, with the aim of promoting private investment in cutting-edge industries beyond the country's traditional innovation centers.
The funded centers include a center in New York, Florida, Nevada, and South Carolina.
The subsidy includes $19 million in funding for researchers in South Florida who focus on research on sustainable and climate adaptive infrastructure. The five beneficiaries who received $51 million included biological manufacturing bases in Illinois and Indiana, as well as engineers from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who will test autonomous systems including AI powered agricultural inspection drones. The New York Center, which focuses on semiconductor manufacturing, will receive $40 million, while the Nevada Center will receive $21 million for research on lithium batteries and electric vehicle materials.
US Commerce Secretary Raymond said that if we don't provide resources for institutions and businesses to compete, we will miss out on many opportunities. She said that about 90% of the technology jobs created in the United States over the past 20 years are concentrated in five cities.
This plan is one of several measures of Biden's iconic legislative achievements, the Chip and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden uses to stimulate domestic manufacturing investment and enable the United States to better compete with China in key technology development.
The technology center plan has received hundreds of applications, and officials earlier nominated 31 initial applicants, each of whom can apply for up to $75 million in funding.
Legislators initially approved a funding of $10 billion for the technology center program over five years, but they have only allocated $541 million in the past two years.
The funding announced on July 2nd has already used up most of the available funds. Raymond said she and Biden have requested legislators to provide more funding for the plan.
