INDIANAPOLIS — The federal government designated Indiana’s Heartland BioWorks as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub on Monday, allowing the consortium of Hoosier entities to compete against other hubs for implementation grants of up to $75 million.
U.S. Sen. Todd Young authored the program as part of the CHIPS and Science Act expressly to “spur more innovation … in places like Indiana, rather than just Silicon Valley and a few coastal cities,” he said in a statement.
“Today’s announcement to designate Heartland BioWorks as a Tech Hub is a recognition of Indiana’s leadership in biotechnology and synthetic biology research and manufacturing and could lead to millions in federal investments. It will open the floodgates for more private capital in biotech R&D across the state,” Young continued.
Young’s release goes on to describe the Tech Hubs program, explaining that the designation endorses a region’s strategy for its technology focus, which includes job creation, strengthening the economy, and national security. The Indiana congressional delegation sent a letter of support on behalf of Heartland BioWorks.
Heartland BioWorks, based in central Indiana and headed by the Applied Research Institute, includes several Indiana stakeholders working to not only develop bioproducts stateside but to also produce them domestically. The Economic Development Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, made the selection.
The hub will initially focus on three areas: BioTrain, BioLaunch, and BioMake — technology gaps identified by the federal government in both the region and the nation.
The BioTrain portion will be a training institute established at the 16 Tech Innovation District in downtown Indianapolis coordinated with Ivy Tech. BioLaunch will ensure that startups at the hub won’t need to offshore production and keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. Lastly, BioMake will provide resources and funding as well as access to a partner facility for testing and demonstrating biomanufacturing technologies.
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