Spreading Tech Hubs to More of America: A Proposal

The U.S. technology sector continues to grow rapidly, driving the nation’s innovation and overall economic growth. However, technology companies are concentrated in only a few very high-cost hubs, such as Silicon Valley, Boston, and Seattle—creating a “winner-take-most” regional reality. The result is not only reduced U.S. competitiveness but increasing regional inequality and lost opportunity in the heartland. And this gap is still widening.

It is time for the federal government to act. Policymakers should support a national competition to select as many as 10 emerging metropolitan areas to receive a decade-long range of robust policy supports, enabling their transition into self-sustaining, globally competitive innovation hubs.

Please join the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) for a presentation on this detailed proposal for action. Honorary co-hosts Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who co-chair the Senate Competitiveness Caucus, will discuss the relevance and timeliness of the proposal.

Follow @ITIFdc and @BrookingsMetro and join the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag #SpreadTechHubs.