Federal officials got a look Wednesday at some of the people and places behind Baltimore’s plans for a regional technology hub during a site visit that could help the region secure future funding after missing out on the first round.
U.S. Department of Commerce officials toured artificial intelligence and biofuels research labs at Morgan State University, met heads of downtown Baltimore manufacturing firms, and heard how high school students are being prepared for future technology jobs.
The site visit, an effort to measure the region’s ability to boost U.S. competitiveness in key industries, was one stop on a monthslong tour of all 31 cities or regions in the federal Tech Hubs Program. Baltimore’s selection last October enables the area to compete for a share of $10 billion in federal funding over five years as it works to establish itself nationally and globally as a center for artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
Despite the designation, the Baltimore area missed out on a first phase of funding that could have meant up to $70 million. The Commerce Department announced in July that tech hubs in states such as Colorado, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Montana were in line for about $504 million in grants.
Since then, tech hub consortium members, led by the Greater Baltimore Committee, have been gearing up to win a share of funding that could be distributed next year. Baltimore’s initial application to the program drew more than 100 letters of support from consortium members, elected officials and private sector partners, with $800 million in investment pledged.
For the next round of funding, Commerce officials will look for proposals that advance the nation’s economic competitiveness and national security, said Eric Smith, tech hubs director for the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, in an interview Wednesday.
“What we want to understand is what’s the path to economic competitiveness [and] how do the economics of these particular industry focus areas work?” Smith said.
He said the Baltimore region has a “great” foundation and ability to leverage existing assets to accelerate growth, “and we very much saw that here.” But the region, he said, may need to better define a strategy to capture greater shares of the global market.
“You have the assets. It’s figuring out how to align those and telling that story around the [global] economic competitiveness piece that will be key in future rounds,” he said.
Wednesday’s site visit offered a chance for the 40-member consortium, from sectors such as business, economic development, manufacturing and academia, to showcase new and ongoing biotech and artificial intelligence initiatives.
Ken Malone, co-founder of Early Charm, a company that creates, owns and operates businesses that commercialize new technologies, told Commerce officials that biomanufacturing already has an established base in the city. Early Charm opened a Baltimore manufacturing plant a year ago to make products such as 3D-printed plastic, metal, ceramic and biologic parts, nanofiber filters, membranes and textiles. It has 92 products under development, he said.
“Largely we are quite accustomed to taking something very early stage all the way through production and keeping it in town and continuing to do production here,” Malone said.
Curt Schwab, president of Catalyte, a Baltimore-based software company, said consortium members believe new approaches are needed for workforce development in biotech, and that the region has a potential to connect 10,000 people over a decade with meaningful careers. His company, for example, has developed artificial intelligence that uses data points to find workers for apprenticeships.
“We have all of the technology talent and biotechnology talent right here in Baltimore,” he said. “We don’t need to outsource jobs.”
Officials toured research labs at Morgan State, then planned stops at 4MLK BioPark, the city’s biggest private biopark investment, on downtown Baltimore’s west side and Spark Coworking Space and Fearless Technology’s headquarters near the Inner Harbor.
Commerce officials launched the site visits in July to build relationships with the 31 hubs, Smith said.
“We really want to just see what you’ve done,” Smith said during a morning roundtable meeting. “This is a long-term relationship that we’re going to have with you. … We’re going to be working with you over the course not just of months but years and hopefully decades.”
The Baltimore region’s five proposed projects would create a sustainable pipeline of workers, establish state-of-the-art biomanufacturing plants, and support entrepreneurship and innovation. The next application would look to fine-tune and strengthen the case for those projects.
The White House and the Commerce Department have requested $4 billion in funding for requests in the next phase, which could be split into multiple rounds.
The Biden administration initiative aims to invest in and boost tech economies in overlooked communities across the country and help make them globally competitive in emerging technologies. The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August 2022, authorized $10 billion for the federal program over five years. So far, $541 million has been appropriated for the program.
If additional funds are allocated by the end of the year, the new application period could open in January with a new round of applicants funded by next summer.
During the roundtable discussion, Kevin Anderson, secretary of the Maryland Department of Commerce, said the region stands apart from others in that “we have an opportunity to create the most equitable, the most balanced ecosystem that the country and the world has ever seen.”
