Minnesota Is Named a Federal ‘Tech Hub.’ What Now?
Minnesota on Monday took a pivotal step forward in a national competition that could bring millions of federal dollars to the state.
Known as the “Tech Hubs Program,” the competition provides investments intended to improve the economy and national security, according to the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). In this step of the program, the federal government picked a total of 31 hubs across the country. In total, 198 applicants submitted proposals to the federal government.
Monday’s announcement garnered the usual deluge of platitudes from Minnesota’s political class, but it’s important to remember that the state is essentially just a finalist at this point. Here’s what to know about the designation.
Minnesota is eligible for millions of dollars in federal funding. In the next phase of the program, five to ten competitors will take home somewhere between $50 million and $75 million to fully implement their proposals, according to EDA. Total federal funds will “vary depending on the nature of the projects, the location of the hub and the selected core technology area,” EDA officials said.
Local economic development group Greater MSP submitted the state’s bid. The group said it worked with more than 20 organizations on the bid, which is formally known as “Minnesota MedTech 3.0.” Partners in the bid included many of the usual suspects in Minnesota’s med-tech scene: Medtronic, HealthPartners, Medica, the Medical Alley Association, and several others.
Greater MSP officials are confident that the bid will “create the next frontier of med-tech innovation and inclusive economic growth” in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s bid leans heavily on AI and other “smart” tech. Greater MSP leaders said their proposal “aims to position Minnesota as a global center for ‘Smart MedTech’ by integrating artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science into medical technology.” They acknowledged that Minnesota already has a “strong MedTech ecosystem,” but they maintained that their proposal aligns a host of high-profile organizations “around a shared strategy.”
So, what types of concrete proposals could we expect out of Greater MSP’s bid? One proposal calls for establishing new data exchanges across the health care ecosystem to “share insight on specific disease and technology areas.” Another idea is to build more startup incubators and accelerators. Yet another aims to build new strategies to tackle Minnesota’s longstanding health care workforce shortage.
GreaterMSP officials said that it will work with coalition partners to “immediately apply this designation to existing local and global efforts and will seek federal funding for the region and state this winter.”
The bid is not, apparently, limited to the Twin Cities: Coalition partners have specifically called for “comprehensive approaches to advancing equity to better connect underrepresented populations and rural and tribal areas to Minnesota’s MedTech growth.”
What we’re watching. Each hub has until Feb. 29, 2024, to submit a final application for the second phase. Should Minnesota’s proposal be chosen as one of the 5-10 winners, the state is poised to take in anywhere from $50 million to $75 million in additional federal funds, according to the EDA.
The EDA said that these funds could fund a wide range of activities designed to advance the hubs’ proposals. That could even include construction expenses tied to building new labs or buildings.
“This large suite of eligible activities is designed to meet the individual needs of a particular region and what it specifically needs to catalyze it becoming a sustainable, globally competitive Tech Hub in its consortium’s selected core technology,” EDA officials said.
