Federal Announcements

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded $35 million through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Research Incubators for STEM Excellence Research Infrastructure Improvement to boost research competitiveness, build partnerships across academic institutions and non-academic sectors and create workforce development opportunities.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced that the Department of Commerce and Entegris, a key supplier of advanced materials and process solutions for leading-edge chipmakers, have reached a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to provide the company with up to $75 million in proposed federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced a set of actions to accelerate U.S. domestic biomanufacturing capacity and highlighting progress in the two years since the President signed the Executive Order.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo traveled to Milwaukee to join Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership WRTP | BIG STEP for a roundtable on women in construction and the trades, where she called on Wisconsin companies, unions, and training organizations to sign on to the Million Women in Construction Community Pledge to bring more women into the construction workforce.

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a market expansion of SelectTalentUSA, a joint initiative across the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Education providing technical assistance to foreign businesses to deliver recruitment and training programs for their U.S. workforce.

The U.S. Department of Energy released new Supply Chain Cybersecurity Principles, developed in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory. The principles establish best practices for cybersecurity throughout the supply chain that supports energy infrastructure.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced that the Department of Commerce and Rocket Lab, the parent company of space power provider SolAero Technologies Corp., have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to provide up to $23.9M in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act.

Dr. Laurie Locascio, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director, visited New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) client Theta Plate Inc. in Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 30, 2024. Theta Plate, a third-generation family-owned metal-plating business started in 1976, performs military standard and decorative electroplating of metals ranging from platinum to tin. The company is active in several niche markets, including jewelry and trumpet mouthpiece

June 1, 2024 marks the one-year anniversary of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Supply Chain Optimization and Intelligence Network (SCOIN), a two-year pilot program to kick-start supply chain efforts across the country. Authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, NIST MEP awarded a total of $20 million for SCOIN to MEP Centers in each state and Puerto Rico.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce and Absolics, an affiliate of the Korea-based SKC, have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to provide up to $75 million in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to help advance U.S. technology leadership.