HR 4588 — Regional Innovation Act of 2021

``(iii) The development of local and regional capital networks and consortia to attract necessary private funding to businesses and entrepreneurs in the region.

``(iv) The development of local and regional networks for business and entrepreneur mentorship.

``(v) The expansion of employee and worker ownership and participation in business decisionmaking, including through coordination and collaboration with worker cooperative membership associations and existing local and state employee ownership and cooperative development centers, or the creation of such centers where they do not yet exist, in order to provide information, technical assistance, access to financing, and training to startups, contractors, and businesses that are considering employee ownership as a model, and to facilitate the creation of and conversion to employee-owned startups, businesses, and cooperatives.

``(iv) Activities to provide or ensure access to capital for new business and cooperative formation and business expansion, or preservation of existing businesses through conversion to employee ownership and cooperatives, including by attracting new private, public, and philanthropic investment and by establishing local and regional venture and loan funds.funds, community development financial institutions, and minority depository institutions.

``(B) Subsequent performance period.--The Secretary may renew a grant or cooperative agreement awarded to a regional technology and innovation hub under paragraph (1) for such period as the Secretary considers appropriate, if the Secretary determines that the regional technology and innovation hub has made satisfactory progress towards the metrics agreed to under subparagraphsubsection (j).

``(C) Flexible approach.--In renewing a grant or cooperative agreement under subparagraph (B), the Secretary and the eligible consortium may agree to new or additional uses of funds in order to meet changes in the needs of the region.

``(2) The likelihood of positive regional economic effect, including increasing the number of high wage domestic jobs, and creating new economic opportunities for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented populations.populations, promoting employee and worker ownership, and advancing models of local and cooperative economic development that build and retain wealth in the region.

``(4) How the eligible consortium will engage with the private sector, including small- and medium-sized businesses and cooperatives, and employee-owned businesses and cooperatives, to commercialize new technologies and improve the resiliency and sustainability of domestic supply chains in a technology or innovation sector critical to national and economic security.

``(5) How the eligible consortium will carry out workforce development and skills acquisition programming, including through partnerships with entities that include State and local workforce development boards, institutions of higher education, including community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, Tribal colleges and universities, and minorityminority- serving institutions, labor organizations, worker cooperative membership associations, state or local employee ownership and cooperative development centers, workforce development programs, and other related activities authorized by the Secretary, to support the development of a skilled technical workforce for the regional technology and innovation hub.

``(7) How the eligible consortium plans to develop partnerships with venture development organizationsorganizations, community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, and sources of private investment in support of private sector activity, including launching new or expanding existing companies.

``(9) How the eligible consortium willplans ensureto thatprocure growthas inmany technologygoods, andservices, innovationfood, sectorand producessupplies opportunityas acrossis thepracticable identifiedfrom region,locally-owned, includingemployee-owned, forminority-owned, economicallyand disadvantaged,women-owned minority,businesses and ruralcooperatives populations,in includingconducting considerationhub ofactivities, and how theindividual eligible consortium takesmembers, intoas accountapplicable, theplan relevantto impactdo ofthe regionalsame. status and plans for-- ``(A) available housing stock and housing policies;

``(10) How the consortium plans to collaborate with local and community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions to expand the supply of such procurement options, including by creating business plans and plans for financing businesses and cooperatives that do not yet exist, and how the consortium plans to encourage entities created as a result of hub activities to follow such practices.

``(11) How the eligible consortium will ensure that growth in technology and innovation sector produces opportunity across the identified region, including for economically disadvantaged, minority, and rural populations, including consideration of how the eligible consortium takes into account the relevant impact of regional status and plans for-- ``(A) available affordable housing stock and housing policies;

``(10)``(12) How much the regions educational institutions are committed to aligning their activities, including research and education, as appropriate, to a region's economic strengths and areas of focus.

``(11)``(13) The likelihood efforts served by the consortium will be sustained once Federal support ends.

``(5) Interagency collaboration.--In designating regional technology and innovation hubs under subsection (d) and awarding grants or cooperative agreements under subsection (f), the Secretary-- ``(A) shall collaborate with Federal departments and agencies whose missions contribute to the goals of the regional technology and innovation hub;hub, and relevant interagency initiatives such as the Interagency Working Group for Cooperative Development;

``(j) Performance Measurement, Transparency, and Accountability.-- ``(1) Metrics, standards, and assessment.--For each grant and cooperative agreement awarded under subsection (f) for a regional technology and innovation hub, the Secretary shall-- ``(A) in consultation with the regional technology and innovation hub, develop metrics, which may include metrics relating to domestic job creation, patent awards, increases in research funding, business formation and expansion, and participation of individuals or communities historically underrepresented in STEMSTEM, in, to assess the effectiveness of the activities funded in making progress toward the purposes set forth under subsection (b)(1);

``(II) An explanation of how each project described in subclause (I) achieves a specific goal under this section in the region of the regional technology and innovation hub with respect to-- ``(aa) the resiliency and sustainability of a supply chain;

``(ee) entrepreneurship and company formation;formation, including the number of businesses created or preserved through employee ownership and cooperative development;

``(I) ana organizationcommunity focuseddevelopment onfinancial cleaninstitution energyor technologyminority innovationdepository orinstitution; entrepreneurship;

``(J) a businessworker acceleratorcooperative membership association or incubator;state or local employee ownership or cooperative development center;

``(K) aan privateorganization sectorfocused entityon orclean groupenergy oftechnology entities,innovation including a trade or industryentrepreneurship; association;

``(L) ana economicbusiness developmentaccelerator organization;or incubator;

``(M) a manufacturingprivate facilitysector entity or organization;group of entities, including a trade or industry association;

``(N) aan cleaneconomic energydevelopment incubatororganization; or accelerator;

``(O) a multi-institutionalmanufacturing collaboration;facility or organization;

or ``(P) anya otherclean entityenergy thatincubator theor Secretaryaccelerator; determines to be relevant.

``(3)``(Q) Department.--Thea termmulti-institutional `Department'collaboration; means the Department of Energy.

``(4)or Program.--The``(R) termany `program'other meansentity that the RegionalSecretary Cleandetermines Energyto Innovationbe Programrelevant. authorized in subsection (b).

``(5)``(3) TheProgram.--The term `Secretary'`program' means the SecretaryRegional ofClean theEnergy DepartmentInnovation ofProgram Energy.authorized in subsection (b).

``(c) Purposes of the Program.--The purposes of the Program established under subsection (b) are to-- ``(1) improve the competitiveness of United StatesStates' clean energy technology research, development, demonstration, and commercial application;

``(G) a plan for sustainingpartnering activitiesand ofcollaborating thewith regionalcommunity development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, labor and community groups, worker cooperative membership associations, local and state employee ownership and cooperative development centers, and other local institutions in order to promote employee, community, and public ownership in the clean energy innovationsector, partnershipand afteradvance fundsmodels receivedof underlocal thiseconomic programdevelopment havethat beenbuild expended;and retain wealth in the region;

and ``(H) a proposedplan budget,for includingsustaining financialactivities contributionsof fromthe non-Federalregional sources.clean energy innovation partnership after funds received under this program have been expended;

``(4)and Considerations.--In``(I) selectinga coveredproposed consortiabudget, forincluding fundingfinancial undercontributions the Program, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable-- ``(A) give special consideration to applications from rural,non-Federal tribal,sources. and low-income communities;

``(4) Considerations.--In selecting covered consortia for funding under the Program, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable-- ``(A) give special consideration to applications fromrural, tribal, and low-income communities;

Such metrics may include-- ``(1) the number and quality of-- ``(A) new clean energy companies created in the region as a result of activities carried out under the regional clean energy innovation partnership;partnership, including those created or preserved through employee ownership and cooperative development;

and ``(E) the Office of Economic Adjustment at the Department of Defense.Defense;

and ``(F) Rural Development at the United States Department of Agriculture.

<all>SEC.

4.

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION ANALYTICS PROGRAM.

(a) In General.--The Secretary of Commerce shall carry out a program of data collection and analysis of technology and innovation sectors critical to realizing national objectives, including national security, economic prosperity, and social welfare.

(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the program shall be-- (1) To serve as a central Federal clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, analysis, and dissemination of objective data on the nation's technology, innovation, and advanced manufacturing capacity;

(2) To improve assessment of the nation's research, technology, and manufacturing assistance programs, including the regional innovation programs established in section 27 and of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-480;

15 U.S.C.

3701 et seq.);

(3) To assess U.S.

competitiveness in technology and innovation sectors;

and (4) To support national policy and decision making in both the public and private sectors to ensure United States leadership in technology and innovation sectors critical to national security, economic prosperity and social welfare.

(c) Activities.--In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall-- (1) collect, acquire, analyze, report, and disseminate data related to critical technology, innovation, and production capacity in the United States and other nations that is relevant and useful to practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public, including data on-- (A) regional technology and innovation capacity, including research and development activity, entrepreneurship, intellectual property generation, company formation, advanced technology capital equipment investment, and technology transfer;

(B) supply chains, including domestic and international production capacity, inter-firm transactions, and resiliency for select end-products and their intermediate inputs;

(C) the skilled technical and production workforce required in different critical technology and innovation sectors;

(D) the participation of individuals and communities historically underrepresented in STEM;

and (E) any other area the Secretary determines appropriate;

(2) Request from any person or entity information, data, and reports as may be required to carry out the purposes of this Act;

(3) support research using the data it collects, and on methodologies in areas related to the activities carried out under the program;

and (4) conduct other activities deemed by the Secretary to be critical for the development of analytic capabilities, statistics, datasets, and metrics related to critical technologies and innovation.

(d) Other Transactions Authorities.--In carrying out this section, the Secretary may enter into and perform such contracts, including cooperative research and development arrangements and grants and cooperative agreements or other transactions, as may be necessary in the conduct of the work of the program and on such terms as the Secretary considers appropriate.

(e) Coordination.--The Secretary shall collaborate with Federal statistical agencies, as appropriate, to carry out the purposes of this section, including by entering into cooperative data sharing agreements that comply with all laws and regulations applicable to the disclosure and use of data.

(f) Consultation.--In conducting the activities required under subsection (c), the Secretary shall solicit input from relevant stakeholders on critical technology and sector needs, practices, and goals related to creating statistics, metrics, data sets, and modeling.

(g) Administration.--The Secretary may carry out this program through existing programs and bureaus of the Department of Commerce, as appropriate.

(h) Access to Federal Data.--In carrying out subsection (c), the Secretary shall be given access to all information, data, or reports that the Secretary determines necessary to carry out this Section by any Federal agency upon written request and subject to any statutory or regulatory restrictions.

(1) Existing instruments.--Where practicable, the Secretary should incorporate data collection into existing survey instruments.

(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $100,000,000 to conduct activities under this section for the period of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

Union Calendar No.

183 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H.

R.

4588 [Report No.

117-254] _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to establish a regional technology and innovation hub program, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________ February 28, 2022 Reported with an amendment;

committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed