
The Spokane-Coeur d’Alene region has officially been designated as a Regional Technology Hub by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). The American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center (AAMMC) is now one of approximately 20 Hubs nationwide eligible to compete for Phase 2 of the CHIPS Regional Innovation Hub grants of $50-$75 million.

Interview with Eric Smith, Regional Tech Hubs Program Director: ‘Our goal is to enable the Tech Hubs that we designate and fund to capture more of their focus industry’s market share globally. These investments inject regions with an extra boost to generate more innovation, more services, more products, and more sales in a particular technology area.’

Leading aerospace companies and research universities have joined nearly 50 area workforce training, venture capital, economic development, labor, tribal and government groups in the Inland Northwest to support establishing the American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center (AAMMC). If selected, the AAMMC tech hub will establish a world-class testbed for production, commercialization, and entrepreneurship in the Inland…