ED Now

EDA is now accepting applications for the FY23 STEM Talent Challenge. Applications are due June 12. The FY23 STEM Talent Challenge will award $4.5 million in grants to strengthen regional innovation economies by building a robust STEM workforce in high-growth sectors such as aerospace, aeronautics, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity. Eligible applicants include EDOs, cities, counties, states, Tribal Nations, nonprofit organizations, public-private partnerships, institutions of higher education, federal laboratories, and science and research parks. Applicants should demonstrate how they will develop or expand regional STEM workforce capacity to support entrepreneurship, innovation, and industries of the future.

This month IEDC President and CEO Nathan Ohle hosted U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Castillo for IEDC’s first Economic Development Session. The sessions will be a series of fireside chats between Ohle and leading economic development officials, thought leaders, and experts. The conversation with Castillo centered around how EDA is focusing on long-term and equitable growth, and how unique this approach is in the agency’s history. The emphasis on long-term development is a departure from previous administrations’ focus on episodic projects and funding, and possible due to the CARES Act and ARPA which provided EDA with more than $4 billion to work with. Castillo talked about how ...

What happened over the weekend? On the evening of Friday, May 7, the Colonial Pipeline Company fell victim to a ransomware attack that forced the shutdown of its system, which stretches 5,500 miles from Houston to Linden, N.J. According to its records, the company is responsible for carrying 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel supplies to a 14-state region, which translates to 100 million gallons of fuel per day. As soon as the attack was identified, all pipeline operations were stopped in order to mitigate damages. This was the first time the company had ever halted all operations at once. Who is responsible? The FBI has determined that the attack was carried out by a hacker organization known as DarkSide. DarkSide claims to be a ...