Jul 12 -- The Economic Development Administration, Department of Commerce, invites comments to OMB by September 3, 2024 regarding the proposed Regional Technology & Innovation Hubs Data Collection Instrument. [Comments due 30 days after submission to OMB on August 1.]
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) leads the Federal economic development agenda by promoting innovation and competitiveness, and preparing American regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. Guided by the basic principle that sustainable economic development should be driven locally, EDA works directly with communities and regions to help them build the capacity for economic development based on local business conditions and needs.
Section 28 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program (15 U.S.C. 3722a) is the legal authority under which EDA awards financial assistance and designee status under the Fiscal Year (FY) 23 Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program (“Tech Hubs”). Under Tech Hubs, EDA seeks to strengthen U.S. economic and national security through place-based investments in regions with the assets, resources, capacity, and potential to become globally competitive, within approximately ten years, in the technologies and industries of the future—and for those industries, companies, and the good jobs they create to start, grow, and remain in the U.S. in order to support the growth and modernization of U.S. manufacturing, improve commercialization of the domestic production of innovative research, and strengthen U.S. economic and national security.
Tech Hubs is a two-phase program: in Phase 1, EDA funded Strategy Development grants and designated 31 regions as Tech Hubs. In Phase 2, designated Tech Hubs are eligible to compete for funding for implementation projects. Further information on Tech Hubs can be found at www.eda.gov.
The purpose of this notice is to seek comments from the public and other Federal agencies on a request for a new information collection for designated Tech Hubs to help ensure that Tech Hub investments are evidence-based, data-driven, and accountable to participants and the public.
Lead consortium members of the 31 designated Tech Hubs will submit identified program metrics and qualitative information to help assess specific program objectives. A one-time questionnaire will be sent to each of the Tech Hubs consortium leads, which will gather the relevant data and stories for each of the 31 Tech Hubs designee consortia, resulting in consortia regional impact evaluation, resources, and tools for regional economic development decision-makers. The 31 designated Tech Hubs will provide information on the following objectives:
(1) Accelerating technology innovation, commercialization, demonstration, and deployment, which may include information on the number of patents filed, licensing agreements, approximate levels of research and development expenditures, adoption of new technologies, and acceleration of current technologies.
(2) Enabling infrastructure and advancing manufacturing, which may include information on specific facility information.
(3) Integrating an agile workforce system, which may include information on skills needed by employers, available training, hard-to-fill vacancies, policies and strategies for worker retention, and strategies for engagement with underserved workers.
(4) Increasing business and entrepreneurial capacity, which may include assessing employer competitiveness, relationships with Federal, State, and local entities, current partnerships, and information about sources of capital to start and grow businesses and to adopt innovative approaches and technologies.
(5) Strengthening national security, which may include information on procurement processes, critical inputs, sourcing, supply chains, and strategic implications of technologies and their use cases.
Tech Hubs designees must submit this data one time to provide a baseline status of the Tech Hub and to help assess the results of designee status as well as potential future federal investments.
EDA is particularly interested in public comment on how the proposed data collection will support the assessment of job quality, including in ways that rely on pairing this information administrative data for analysis and other ways to minimize burden, or if alternative information should be considered.
Affected Public: Tech Hubs designees, which may include a(n): Institution of higher education, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges or Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions; State, territorial, local or Tribal governments or other political subdivisions of a State, including State and local agencies, or a consortium thereof; Industry groups or firms in relevant technology, innovation, or manufacturing sectors; Economic development organizations or similar entities that are focused primarily on improving science, technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, or access to capital; Labor organizations or workforce training organizations, which may include State and local workforce development boards; Economic development entities with relevant expertise, including a district organization; Organizations that contribute to increasing the participation of underserved populations in science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship; Venture development organizations; Organizations that promote local economic stability, high wage domestic jobs, and broad-based economic opportunities, such as employee ownership membership associations and State or local employee ownerships and cooperative development centers, financial institutions and investment funds, including community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions; Elementary schools and secondary schools, including area career and technical education schools; National laboratories; Federal laboratories; Manufacturing extension centers; Manufacturing U.S.A. Institutes; Transportation planning organizations; A cooperative extension services; Organizations that represent the perspectives of underserved communities in economic development initiatives; and Institutions receiving an award under the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines Program.
Regional Tech Hubs:
https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/regional-technology-and-innovation-hubs
EDA submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202407-0610-001 Click on IC List for questionnaire, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this site.
FR notice inviting public comment:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-15183
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806