The Biden administration didn't name Knoxville a US tech hub. It's becoming one 'anyway'
When the Biden administration announced it would create tech hubs across the U.S. to boost domestic clean energy and artificial intelligence research, it sounded like a program tailor-made for the Knoxville and Oak Ridge region.
The list of hubs, announced Oct. 23, did not include Knoxville, or any of the Tennessee regions that applied for the designation.
The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last August, set aside $10 billion to establish these tech hubs, which will receive special access to federal funding and assistance for their region from several federal departments.
A consortium of nearly 40 partners, led by the East Tennessee Economic Council, got to work in May on a Knoxville application, making the case that the region is a national and global center for nuclear energy.
Powerhouse institutions like Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville joined the effort early on.
More: Why ORNL's new director couldn't pass up a chance to come to Oak Ridge
"We were disappointed that we did not receive designation," Tracy Boatner, president of the East Tennessee Economic Council, told Knox News in a statement. "However, Tennessee currently has a thriving nuclear energy ecosystem with 229 companies located across the state. Here in East Tennessee, we have a thriving cluster of both existing and new nuclear companies."
Boatner, appointed by Gov. Bill Lee to the new Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council in July, cited the state's $50 million nuclear fund, as well as TVA's Clinch River Nuclear Site, the first to receive an early site permit for a next-generation small modular reactor, as examples of East Tennessee's place in the national transition to clean energy.
Private nuclear companies like Kairos Power and TRISO-X have selected Oak Ridge for first-of-their-kind facilities that will sit in the footprint of former Manhattan Project buildings, bringing a "renaissance" of nuclear energy to the Atomic City, said Christine Michaels, president and CEO of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber wrote a letter of support and participated in surveys for the tech hub application, but Michaels was not discouraged by the unsuccessful effort.
More than 370 hubs competed for just 31 spots, the White House said, and the Department of Commerce program was one of countless federal funding opportunities for the region.
"We have some very strong partnerships here right now that we're almost doing what that grant would have enabled. It's just that we're having to do it now by our bootstraps," Michaels said. "We have a lot of the ingredients to be a tech hub anyway."
Not all 31 tech hubs will receive direct federal grants from the program. They are able to compete for grants of $50 million to $75 million in a second phase of the program, though only five to 10 will be chosen.
Tennessee passed over by Biden's tech hub program
Five hubs in Tennessee applied for the designation, but none were selected. Tennessee applicants other than Knoxville were:
Chattanooga for quantum technology
Memphis for supply chain and logistics
Nashville for data storage and management in life sciences
Tri-Cities region for synthetic biology
For each application, local governments partnered with universities and development organizations. The Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration required at least five partners from each hub, said Lindsey Cox, CEO of Launch Tennessee.
The public-private nonprofit, which supports startups in the state, wrote letters of support for each application and organized calls with partners in all five hubs. Cox said she was surprised none of the Tennessee hubs were selected.
"We are offering time with the different groups that submitted applications just to get their direct feedback on how we can all work together to see success in the future," Cox told Knox News.
Tennessee has not lacked in federal funding or partnerships, especially for its growing EV manufacturing industry. The Center for Transportation Research at UT's Tickle College of Engineering was chosen as a National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Development Engine in May.
In August, the same month tech hub applications were due, the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded UT a nearly $750,000 grant to spur manufacturing workforce development in the state.
Tech hubs program delivers key goals of 'Bidenomics'
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration made geographical diversity a guiding principle as it selected tech hubs, including biotechnology in Birmingham, exportable electricity in Georgia and South Carolina and lithium extraction and processing in Nevada.
"The whole thing about this program is, we're investing all over America," said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a video posted to the department's social media. "Everybody knows about Silicon Valley, everybody knows New York City, but we are finding pockets of excellence in Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Florida."
The CHIPS and Science Act was aimed at bringing semiconductor research back to the U.S. from China and boosting research and development across the nation, not just in coastal cities.
Though the selection of hubs appeared apolitical, it also delivered on key domestic policies of the Biden administration. Four hubs are in coal communities, and the president's economic agenda, nicknamed "Bidenomics," is centered on a promise of high-paying clean energy jobs to the working class in states with faltering economics once built on the fossil fuel.
Twelve hubs have a strong labor union presence and 14 are in states with historically low levels of federal funding. Though the Knoxville region has a strong federal presence with the Department of Energy and TVA, Cox said she viewed this as a strength for the applications and not a weakness.
All 31 hubs will get higher priority for other Department of Commerce funding opportunities and their communities will get special assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Biden administration skips Knoxville, Oak Ridge as tech hubs
