Senior U.S. Department of Commerce Official Visits Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub in Virginia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Eric Smith, Director of the Tech Hubs Program, visited the Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub (APM Tech Hub) in Virginia. The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), designated the APM Tech Hub, a coalition led by the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hub) in October 2023.  

The APM Tech Hub highlights the region’s role as an emerging global leader in the growth, innovation, and sustainability of the U.S.-based pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. While there, Tech Hubs Program leadership will work with the Tech Hub to strengthen their strategy to re-shore safe and affordable medicines via innovative hybrid and continuous flow manufacturing technologies. 

The Tech Hubs Program is a flagship initiative aimed at advancing U.S. leadership in technologies and industries critical to national security. The designation of the APM Tech Hub is a strong endorsement of the region’s plan to supercharge its critical technology ecosystem and become a global leader in advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing, ensuring U.S. national security and global competitiveness.    

“The Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub embodies the spirit and potential of the Tech Hubs program to take centers of excellence and make them world-class tech ecosystems through targeted investments,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “That’s precisely why I’ve asked Eric Smith to travel to Virginia with a team to meet with leadership and provide technical assistance on their strategy. The Tech Hubs Program is crucial to ensuring tech industries vital to U.S. economic and national security start, stay, and grow in the U.S., and that’s why I’m committed to future rounds of funding and working with lawmakers to support additional federal resources to support all of our designees.”  

The Tech Hubs Program, authorized for $10 billion in the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, is designed to increase the capacity and pace with which Americans make, deliver, and deploy innovative technologies, creating new, growing companies and new, good jobs.   

Read more about the Tech Hubs program at TechHubs.gov.  

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation’s regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA invests in communities and supports regional collaboration in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.