The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“the Commonwealth) is making up to $145 million in Capital Projects Funds (“CPF”) available through the Broadband Infrastructure Gap Networks Grant Program (“Gap Networks Grant Program” or the “Program”), to address the critical digital needs of towns and cities, with a particular focus on communities with substantial low-income households and disadvantaged populations. The Program will fund the deployment of broadband infrastructure in areas that currently lack access to sufficient broadband internet service, defined as service offering download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps.

WESTBOROUGH, MASS. – The Healey-Driscoll Administration has awarded a nearly $2 million grant to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) through MassTech’s Innovation Institute to help build a cutting-edge research and development facility focused on the design, production, and understanding of autonomous systems. WPI’s new Autonomous Systems Lab will serve as a testing ground for innovative autonomous technologies that are advancing future capabilities in the automotive, transportation, healthcare, robotics, and automation and manufacturing sectors.

AMHERST, MASS. – Today, leaders from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) announced a $5 million award from the Healey-Driscoll Administration to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass-Amherst) to help create an open-access additive manufacturing and design/testing facility on campus. The grant, from the Collaborative Research and Development Matching Grant Program, will augment UMass-Amherst’s capabilities in the advanced manufacturing space and increase its collaboration with universities across Massachusetts around R&D for advanced optical technologies, which have applications in biotechnology, defense, aerospace, environmental monitoring, and general electronics.

Lever welcomed friends and colleagues from across the state on Oct. 3-4 to announce the launch of The Massachusetts Founders Network (MFN), a new initiative that gives startup founders equitable access to resources that will help their companies grow.