Tech Hub funding: Binghamton's New Energy New York left out of latest round

The most recent round of federal Tech Hub funding, which brought $40 million to upstate New York, did not yield any money for the Binghamton University-led New Energy New York (NENY) program.

The federal funding was granted to New York Semiconductor Manufacturing and Research Technology Innovation Corridor (NY SMART-I Corridor), a consortium focused on semiconductor manufacturing which encompasses Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester.

Alongside the federal funding, New York State is providing $8 million in match funding, and will allocate additional resources to the program through Empire State Development. Empire State Development will also be a member of the Tech Hub's implementation steering committee, aiming to turn New York's rust belt into an innovation belt.

“With this transformative federal grant, New York is taking another major leap toward building Chips Country in our state,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a July 2 statement. “This award will help to bring the next generation of semiconductor research, manufacturing, and workforce training upstate and unlock even more funding – on top of our other state investments – to attract chipmaking businesses and jobs."

NENY, which was designated a tech hub in November, aims to make the Southern Tier a globally competitive manufacturing hub for lithium ion batteries. NENY leaders recently announced the launch of NSF Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine by unveiling local plans for its battery manufacturing facility.

Per Stromhaug, NENY's Regional Competitiveness Officer, said more funding for upstate New York initiatives would benefit the region as a whole, and that NENY will continue to seek funding from a variety of sources.

"While we are disappointed that NENY Tech Hub's application for funding was not selected in this initial round, we are grateful to the EDA for recognizing Upstate NY as an epicenter for growth, innovation, and workforce development across the battery and semiconductor industries and we congratulate our friends of the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub with their big win.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement the state was "all-in" on semiconductors, and claimed the grant would further an already competitive market in the region.

NENY said they will continue to seek funding from Tech Hub allocations, particularly to support workforce development and new manufacturing.

"We see a lot of synergies between the two Tech Hubs," Stromhaug said, "and we hope that we will be able to work together in the coming years to advance the innovation economy in Upstate New York and ensure global competitiveness in these critically important fields."

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Binghamton-led NENY misses first round of federal Tech Hub funding