South Florida got the nation’s first climate tech hub last year, and now it’s getting money to make it run—$19.5 million that the Biden administration announced on Tuesday. Fittingly, much of the initial federal funding will go toward training and research that will be key to building a coastline more resilient to the rising seas that are the biggest threat to South Florida. It will boost “clean concrete” research headed by Florida International University and engineering and construction training programs led by Miami Tech Works.
“The production of concrete is a large contributor to CO2 emissions, so the need for cleaner concrete is extremely important and resilient concrete is critical in places that are vulnerable to climate change,” said Eric Smith, the Tech Hubs program director at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.