Joe Biden speaks during an event at at the White House on October 23, 2023. Biden spoke on how histhe designation of 31 regional “tech hubs” across the United States, as part of a new program launched by the Commerce Department. The program aims to boost a region’s technological capabilities by collaborating with private industry, educational institutions, governments, tribes, and labor groups to produce research that drives innovation and supports economically challenged areas.
Examples of tech hub designees include a “trustworthy and equitable autonomous systems tech hub” in Oklahoma, a sustainable plastics and rubbers tech hub in Ohio, and aof Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. Schumer was key to the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, and he and Indiana Senator Todd Youngthe tech hub program specifically. All told, two of the hubs are in New York State and two in Indiana.
While in theory the government could make wise investments in the economy, in practice it tends not to. Either it selects for overly-safe investments, like giving research grants to Nobel laureates who have no problem raising funds elsewhere, or it takes risky bets that, while unlikely to receive private sector financing, are also unlikely to pay off in terms of success.