INDIANAPOLIS (WNDU) – Indiana is on track to compete with other major tech hubs, such as Silicon Valley, thanks in part to a federal designation.
On Monday, the Applied Research Institute (ARI) announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration selected Heartland BioWorks as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub.
The designation status will allow Heartland BioWorks to compete against other designated hubs for grants of up to $75 million. Officials say this designation will help bolster the workforce and help small businesses out.
“When I authored the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program, my goal was to spur more innovation in technologies of the future in places like Indiana, rather than just Silicon Valley and a few coastal cities,” Sen. Todd Young said in a press release. “Today’s announcement to designate Heartland Bioworks as a Tech Hub is a recognition of Indiana’s leadership in biotechnology and synthetic biology research and manufacturing and another major win for Hoosiers. This designation could lead to millions in federal investment and will open the floodgates for more private capital in biotech R&D across the state.”
ARI officials say the Regional Tech Hubs program will catalyze further production, which will foster innovation and encourage more businesses to start and grow in Indiana.
Heartland BioWorks is a consortium of Indiana stakeholders that focuses on medical and science technology research, as well as product development.
Under the new designation, Heartland will focus on three primary objectives: growing and training future biotech employees, helping small start-ups and businesses, and establishing manufacturing footholds in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson region.
Indiana stakeholders have described the need for more dedicated manufacturing operations and innovation space.
The Regional Tech Hub designation and the funding that follows will support the acceleration of workforce development and help dismantle barriers to success for entrepreneurs and small business owners with new biotech products.
Small businesses focused on bioch are often forced to offshore their own production because they lack the resources and scale needed to work with U.S. contract development and manufacturing organizations or justify the development of their own production facility.
With this designation, Heartland will be able to coordinate and connect those small businesses with the region’s contract manufacturers and distributors, addressing lab-to-launch gaps.
Heartland will also be able to provide resources, funding, and coordinated access to partnering manufacturing facilities to help improve the efficiency, capability, and cost of operations.
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