Anticipation is building for the pending decision on Baltimore’s Phase 2 Tech Hubs application to the US Economic Development Administration (EDA).
That energy was most recently demonstrated during a roundtable discussion on the region’s tech hub designation at Coppin State University (CSU) on Monday. The HBCU’s president Anthony L. Jenkins kicked off the Greater Baltimore Committee’s (GBC) event by welcoming dignitaries and leaders in Maryland’s public and private sector to CSU’s sprawling 38-acre campus along North Avenue in West Baltimore.
Those assembled included members of the now-48-strong coalition of Baltimore’s corporations and institutions behind this bid. The coordinated effort mirrors others in Philadelphia, Richmond and other cities vying for millions in federal funding through the EDA’s Tech Hubs program. Part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the program aims to boost various US regions (including those that, like Charm City, still reel from divestment and deindustrialization) into innovation centers capable of competing on the global stage.
Baltimore, like the other 31 hubs named during the program’s first phase, is now awaiting decisions on what amount of funding the hub can get. By this summer, a decision is anticipated on Baltimore’s Phase 2 application, through which the EDA may distribute about $50-75 million in implementation grants to between five and 10 designated tech hubs.
At the Monday event, bid leaders and supporters discussed prospective plans for the $70 million in the GBC’s application.
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