What Contenders In The $500M Tech Hubs Race Can Learn From The Past
Philadelphia is one of the contenders for federal advanced technology investment. A decade ago, a similar program had “no measurable benefit.”
Back in 2013, a Senate subcommittee slammed a locally led innovation cluster as showing “no measurable benefit” from $55 million in federal funding.
It was part of an Obama-era Department of Energy program focused on identifying and commercializing energy efficiency in buildings, which are still responsible for 40% of carbon emissions in the United States. One of the longest-running locations for research was at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard. It had at least three names over its tenure, one of which was the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub.
The subcommittee report was unflinching: “The Hub was more focused on the economic development of the Philadelphia area rather than developing a national program to improve the energy efficiency of commercial and residential buildings across the United States.”
Today, that city’s isolated former shipbuilding zone is a growing business center, but those tens of millions of dollars failed to generate breakthrough innovations. It’s a cautionary tale for a new generation of federal funding into place-based technology hubs.
By early summer, a coalition representing a multi-state group centered in Philadelphia will know if they’re among a handful of regions to be awarded between $50 million and $75 million to advance their capacity in some advanced technology. It’s the centerpiece of the federal Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program.
What’s different this time?
The energy-efficiency program from a decade ago was focused on experimental inventions, led by academia and centralized inside an institution. This Tech Hubs initiative is focused on already proven technologies and taking “an ecosystem approach.” So says Tony Green, the chief scientific officer at Pennsylvania’s state-backed investment firm Ben Franklin Technology Partners.
Green, who was a bit player for the previous program, is taking a leading role in this one, corralling Philadelphia’s precision medicine coalition. Each of the 31 regional bids have a slightly different economic focus.
“This is not academic,” Green said, “but about ‘How do you get a product out the door?’”
Its outcome will be telling. One of the biggest economic stories of the moment is the amount of federal funding splashing around the United States. Can government-led industrial policy accelerate innovations? Or is it doomed to misalign with market trends?
