Congratulations UNR UCED and Nevada Tech Hub Consortium

Nevada Tech Hub to Receive $21M

On July 2, 2024, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen joined representatives from the University of Nevada, Reno, Dragonfly Energy, and the Nevada Tech Hub consortium in Reno, Nevada to announce the Nevada Tech Hub as a national recipient of EDA’s Phase 2 Regional Technology and Innovation Hub program. Led by the University of Nevada, Reno, the Nevada Tech Hub’s Phase 2 application, was awarded approximately $21 million over the next five years, including approximately $17.5 million for the Workforce Development Component Project and approximately $3.5 million for the Nevada Native Nations Center.

Only 12 of the 31 designated Tech Hubs were selected for funding. The application process involved over 70 consortium members spanning the public sector, private sector, and various non-profit and community-based organizations encompassing the full life cycle of the lithium loop: extraction, processing, advanced manufacturing and recycling.

The Nevada Tech Hub will leverage this award to support projects that are:
• Working with community colleges, state agencies, industry, and labor unions to bolster the region’s reservoir of skilled workers.
• Providing educational opportunities and wraparound support for students at the secondary and post-secondary levels.
• Promoting awareness of STEM-related occupations across Nevada’s lithium economy, increasing retention of Native students in STEM-related fields, and creating guided pathways to family-sustaining jobs in the growing Hub workforce.
• Supporting the administrative capacity and readiness of Nevada’s Native American and Indigenous communities.
• Creating and maintaining effective and equitable management and decision-making processes, advising on workforce development strategies, and facilitating connections to relevant experts and organizations.

The final grant amount will be finalized in the coming months.