Sen. Duey Stroebel says he’s seeing bipartisan support for a bill that would provide $7.5 million in state matching funds for the Wisconsin BioHealth Tech Hub effort.
The Saukville Republican and Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, recently sent a co-sponsorship memo to lawmakers on the proposal.
The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 provided $10 billion for the program over five years, and the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act added another $500 million to launch the program, the memo shows. The state’s biohealth tech hub consortium was one of 31 to receive federal designation and one of 29 to get strategy development funding.
That additional funding “will enable the consortium to further develop its regional strategy for scaling up the manufacture, commercialization and deployment of critical technologies in personalized medicine,” lawmakers wrote in the memo.
The Wisconsin BioHealth Tech Hub can now apply for an implementation grant to put its plan in motion, which would provide between $50 million and $75 million for up to eight projects, according to the memo. As part of its Phase 2 application, the consortium will secure an additional $4 million to $7 million in private matching funds, the lawmakers note.
Along with the state dollars, the bill would also require BioForward and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. — another consortium member — to annually report to the Legislature on uses of state funding over the next three years.
[Adapted from: Tech hub funding bill getting bipartisan support, Stroebel says Jan. 8, 2024, WisPolitics]
