(TNS) — About 18 months ago, stuck working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, Craig Buerstatte started thinking about ways the Biden administration could get the communities vying for American Rescue Plan Act money to think outside the box.
The idea Buerstatte and his colleagues came up with was the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, which sought projects aimed at rebuilding regional economies and creating thousands of jobs in industries such as clean energy, next-generation manufacturing and biotechnology.
Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration announced 21 winning projects and a total of $1 billion in funding.
Among those 21 winners — which were chosen from 529 applicants and 60 finalists — was the Heartland Robotics Cluster in Nebraska. The project is being…
