No Tennessee plan funded under EDA’s “Build Back Better Regional Challenge”
And now there are none.
When the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced its $1 billion “Build Back Better Regional Challenge,” there were nine applications from the Volunteer State. Only one of those nine – submitted by a coalition led by the University of Memphis – made the cut when EDA announced 60 finalists in mid-December (see teknovation.biz article here).
On Friday, 21 proposals were announced as winners, but the West Tennessee plan was not among those selected. There were, however, several winners from neighboring states.
- Coalfield Development (West Virginia) received $62.8 million for the “Appalachian Climate Technologies (ACT Now) Initiative”;
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation was awarded $65 million for GA-AIM;
- Greater St. Louis, Inc. (Missouri) received $25 million for the “St. Louis Tech Triangle”;
- The North Carolina Biotechnology Center was awarded $25 million for “Accelerate NC – Life Sciences Manufacturing” (see this update from WRAL TechWire here);
- The Osceola County, FL Board of County Commissioners received $50.8 million for the “Building Central Florida’s Semiconductor Cluster for Broad-Based Prosperity” proposal; and
- Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority was awarded $52.9 million for its “Virginia Advanced Pharma Manufacturing (APM) and R&D” plan.
In its news release, EDA wrote that “the funding for each coalition listed above is approximate, with awards to be signed later in September.”
