South Florida’s climate ‘Tech Hub’ lands $19.5M federal startup funding

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A technological effort to improve protections against climate change in the Sunshine State’s most populous region will get $19.5 million in initial federal funding, the White House announced.

The money will go toward early development of the South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub. Led by the Miami-Dade Innovation and Economic Development Office and intended to serve Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties, the hub is one of 12 in the nation to receive a combined $504 million.

It got the smallest sum among them. The second smallest, $21 million, went to the Nevada Tech Hub. All others got between $40 million and $51 million apiece. Another 19 programs across the country that the White House designated as Tech Hubs last year are still awaiting federal funding.

“This investment from the (Joe) Biden-(Kamala) Harris administration will enable us to confront the climate crisis head-on, driving economic innovation and creating high-quality jobs here in South Florida,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement.

“Miami-Dade is proud to collaborate with public sector, academic, and private partners from (across the region) on this groundbreaking initiative.”

The funding announcement came nearly eight months after the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) designated South Florida and 30 other regions as federal “Tech Hubs.”

South Florida’s Tech Hub — a consortium of local governments, businesses, universities and organizations — is the only such program in the state so far to receive a federal Tech Hub designation. Nationally, the EDA received 198 applications by its deadline last year.

A county press note said the agency highlighted that South Florida’s application “demonstrated the leadership and potential to leverage regional assets, talent, and technological expertise to become a world-class, globally competitive technology innovation center.”

Once up and running, the hub is to develop and commercialize scalable innovations to address climate change, from those aimed at addressing extreme heat and fish-killing algal blooms to infrastructural solutions for flooding and Florida’s growing dependence on electric vehicles.

Miami-Dade said the initial phase of the project should create 23,000 new, “high-paying jobs” through 2029. Once fully operational, the South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub is expected to generate $41 billion in new revenue over the next decade.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for South Florida,” said Francesca de Quesada Covey, the hub’s Regional Innovation Officer and Chief Innovation and Economic Development Officer of Miami-Dade.

“The ClimateReady Tech Hub is not only the only recognized hub focused on finding solutions to our pressing climate challenges but also brings economic benefit in jobs and increased GDP to all of our communities from Palm Beach down to Monroe counties, and west to the bordering Miccosukee nation.”

The federal Tech Hub program is authorized through the CHIPS and Science Act, which will invest directly in high-potential U.S. regions in order to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers.

A White House press release said the Tech Hubs “are a flagship example of the President’s place-based approach, emphasizing that America’s economy is stronger when we invest in communities rather than leave them behind.”

“These Tech Hubs,” Harris said in a statement, “will give regions across our nation the resources and opportunities necessary to lead in the economy of tomorrow while creating good-paying jobs for American workers.”