Listen to this story
Loading audio file, please wait.
speed
1.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00
Two years after the federal CHIPS and SCIENCE Act was enacted, the act’s goal of stimulating domestic innovation and high-tech manufacturing in areas such as microelectronics, biotechnology and artificial intelligence has begun to move from concept to implementation in Indiana and across the nation.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration awarded $51 million to the Heartland Bioworks Hub in Indiana, making it one of 12 federally designated technology hubs nationwide to receive funding.
This is in addition to $33 million the Defense Department awarded last year to the Indiana-based Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons hub.
Separate from CHIPS, the U.S. Department of Energy last year awarded up to $1 billion in federal funding for clean energy projects to the Midwest Clean Hydrogen Alliance, of which Indiana is a lead member.
The designation makes Indiana the only state involved in three federal innovation hubs, and state officials say it puts the state in the best position to build a stronger workforce and convince businesses to invest and stay in the state.
These strategies also position Indiana at the forefront of the federal government’s plans to accelerate the advancement of the United States in key high-tech areas, particularly microelectronics and its impact on national security. The strategies are focused on providing incentives to companies and organizations involved in a range of technology activities, from idea generation and research to commercialization and implementation, to join the hub.
“We rely on the supply chain to keep the system going,” said Doug Crow, federal director of the Microelectronics Growth Program. “The biggest driver we have right now is domestic production, so we can start to redevelop our domestic design, manufacturing and packaging capabilities.”
David Watkins, senior vice president of entrepreneurship and small business at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, said he hopes that in the future, these hubs will serve as a flywheel that will increase levels of talent, business innovation and commercialization in the state.
The Hub is not a place, and its members may not be neighbors. Rather, it is an alliance, whose members include leading companies in the local sector, major national companies, universities, non-profits, and other organizations involved in manufacturing. By connecting partners, the Hub offers its members opportunities for collaboration, access to funding for projects and research topics, and boosts government-backed economic development momentum.
“Our framework allows for collisions and ideas to come to fruition that typically wouldn’t happen without the framework and the orchestration that we provide,” said Brooke Pine, executive vice president of innovation and strategy at the nonprofit applied research institute.
ARI is the organizer and manager of the Heartland Bioworks Hub and Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub under contract with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, is a member of the Midwest Clean Hydrogen Alliance, and partners with the IEDC on other entrepreneurship and innovation efforts.
ARI’s role is to bring together stakeholders from academia, industry and government to design networks that foster innovation through collaboration. For example, ARI can connect university research teams with companies interested in prototyping and commercializing, Pyne says.
Partnerships are key to seizing big opportunities like the innovation and technology hub, said Karen Prout, Purdue’s vice president for research, who said the university is uniquely positioned to support them by lending facilities and equipment, deepening research and supporting startups.
“Commercialization is innovation,” Prout said. “When we have these hubs designed to foster innovation, we can commercialize more products.”
Where does the Hub stand?
The furthest along in development, Crow said, is the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons hub, one of eight federal microelectronics hubs aimed at ensuring the military doesn’t use chips made outside the U.S. A January report by data analytics firm Govini found that 40% of the semiconductors used in the Pentagon’s weapons systems and infrastructure are made in China, raising concerns among nation leaders that this poses a security threat.
The CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS stands for Creating Beneficial Incentives for Semiconductor Production) is designed to fund the innovation, research, and manufacturing needed to enable the United States to supply its own defense equipment.
That means bringing previously outsourced supply chains back home, Crowe said.
The Silicon Crossroads Hub has received an initial allocation of $33 million, primarily for workforce development and equipment for members such as universities. The hub is nine months into its implementation, which officials said means the program has been launched and equipment has been ordered.
The hub hosted the grand opening of its Silicon Crossroads Collaboration Centre (SC3) at an event held at WestGate@Crane Tech Park, Odon on June 17th.
ARI submitted a second round of funding petitions in February to fund some of its members’ projects and will find out this month whether the request has been granted. Project funding calls will be annual, Pyne said. ARI also plans to submit a proposal next month to increase funding for workforce development programs.
Meanwhile, the Heartland Bioworks Hub is still in the early stages of work, needing to finalize details of a contract with the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration to secure a $51 million grant that will fund workforce training and support for early-stage companies.
ARI also plans to establish a training and demonstration facility in Indianapolis’ 16 Tech Innovation District.
The hydrogen hub is currently finalizing its framework, which IEDC’s Watkins expects to be completed within the next few weeks.
Abstraction versus reality
Economic development leaders from each state have a unique incentive to host and operate from a federal hub: the potential to turn abstract ideas into local investments and actual, physical innovation campuses in Indiana.
Each location reflects the industries in which companies have established themselves in the state. General manufacturing is already a major employer, and microelectronics and advanced manufacturing typically require expanded training for these workers. The state is also home to a number of strong life sciences companies, including Eli Lilly and Co., currently one of the most valuable companies in the United States, as well as Elanco Animal Health and Roche Diagnostics.
The hydrogen hub is focused on northwest Indiana, where BP is working to develop hydrogen-related technology for its Whiting refinery, allowing steelmakers to benefit from a cleaner energy source.
Watkins said diversifying the types of industries in the state is beneficial, but the focus is on making sure those industries remain cutting edge.
“How can we organize a coalition around these types of innovative movements that are happening within industries that have a strong presence in Indiana to ensure the state remains at the forefront of these innovations,” he said.
For example, the state is developing and expanding tech and research park corridors to absorb growth in key focus areas, an ecosystem that will drive the innovation side of the hubs, leaders say.
For example, Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette allows the university to translate research into economic impact for the state, Prout said. Students and faculty play a key role in the system, he said, partnering with companies to develop products and technologies and bring them to market.
The Innovation Park “allows us to do cutting-edge research,” she said, “and go to Purdue and collaborate on solving real problems that need to be solved right now.”
A key initiative funded by the hub is workforce development, a key concern for Indiana and the nation. According to a July 2023 industry forecast cited by the White House, the nation will need at least 25,000 engineers without four-year college degrees by 2030, and an equal number with higher education degrees.
ARI is focusing the majority of its current and potential funding at each of its locations on improving the skills of Indiana’s workforce, and there are also numerous workforce development programs underway at Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University.
“We can build that workforce,” Prout said.
Positioning for sustainability
Crow said there are two main factors that make Indiana an attractive location for microelectronics: The state has already begun to bring together partners and foster a local microelectronics ecosystem, he said.
after that The state’s senior senator, Todd Young, is the sponsor and champion of the CHIPS bill.
“Indiana probably recognized a future need. [for a renewed microelectronics industry] And then they set out to build an ecosystem to support that,” Crow said. “They’ve obviously been in microelectronics for a long time.”
Crowe said the initial funding for the microelectronics hub is aimed at building infrastructure to reinvigorate the industry domestically after years of overseas production of key components.
“The main factor has been a decline in the percentage of microelectronic circuits produced in the United States,” he said, “eventually reaching levels so low that it’s almost a national emergency.”
The goal is to continue funding the hub over the long term, but on a project-by-project basis rather than spending large amounts all at once, although there is no guarantee of additional grant funding.
Pyne said federal funding will be limited, and the hub will need to supplement it with other revenue sources and find a model that works in Indiana.
But this latest surge in federal funding is something Pyne said he’s never seen before and it’s something the state needs to take advantage of.
“This is about injecting huge amounts of money into the country and making up for lost time,” she said. “Not only are we replacing our technical capabilities, but we have to start really investing in workforce development along those lines.”
Story continues below
