WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Eric Smith, Director of the Tech Hubs Program, visited the Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub (APM Tech Hub) in Virginia. The Biden-Harris administration, through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), has designated the APM Tech Hub, a coalition led by the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hub) in October 2023.

The APM Tech Hub highlights the region’s role as an emerging global leader in U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing growth, innovation, and sustainability. During their stay, Tech Hubs program leadership will work with the Tech Hub to strengthen their strategy to bring safe and affordable medicines back to the country using innovative hybrid and continuous manufacturing technologies.

The Tech Hubs Program is a flagship initiative aimed at enhancing U.S. leadership in technologies and industries critical to national security. The designation of the APM Tech Hub is a strong endorsement of the region’s plan to strengthen its critical technology ecosystem and become a global leader in advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing to ensure U.S. national security and global competitiveness.

“The Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub embodies the spirit and potential of the Tech Hubs programme to transform centres of excellence into world-class technology ecosystems through targeted investments,” said Trade Minister Gina Raimondo. “That’s exactly why I asked Eric Smith to travel to Virginia with a team to meet with leadership and provide technical assistance on their strategy. The Tech Hubs Program is critical to ensuring that technology industries important to the U.S. economy and national security emerge, stay, and grow in the U.S., and that’s why I’m committed to future rounds of funding and working with lawmakers to provide additional federal funding to support all of our appointees.”

The Tech Hubs Program, which is funded with $10 billion in the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, is designed to increase the capacity and pace at which Americans develop, deploy and use innovative technologies, creating new, growing companies and new, good jobs.

For more information about the Tech Hubs program, visit TechHubs.gov.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation’s regions for growth and success in the global economy. As an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the EDA invests in communities and supports regional cooperation to create jobs for U.S. workers, foster American innovation, and accelerate long-term, sustainable economic growth.