Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub

Lead Agency: Maine Technology Institute

State Served: Maine

Applicant-Defined Region: Portland-S.Portland; Bangor; Lewiston-Auburn; and Augusta-Waterville MSAs 

Core Technology Area: sustainable wood biomass polymers

Contact: Scott Kleiman ([email protected])

Media Contact: Jackie Farwell ([email protected])

Organizational Link: https://mainetechhub.us/

The Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub, led by the Maine Technology Institute, aims to become a global leader in forest-based biomaterial production and manufacturing by extracting biological building blocks from forests, manipulating them for use, and manufacturing innovative products from those components. The Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub seeks to accelerate the development and deployment of these natural products which can displace plastics and replace toxic chemicals while bolstering U.S. supply chain resilience. 

The Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub seeks to become the region of choice for firms developing, manufacturing, and selling innovative products derived from forests by bringing together the state government, higher education institutions, industry partners, economic development organizations, and labor and workforce training organizations. 

This consortium plans to:

• bridge forest bioproducts technological innovations with the commercialization resources and partnerships necessary to successfully bring that intellectual property to market at a globally competitive scale and serve as the backbone organization for the consortium, coordinating governance, strategy, evaluation, and community engagement; and
• strengthen a pipeline of innovations (functionalized feedstocks, applications, and manufacturing technologies), de-risk these innovations with technical assistance, and leverage new commercialization, advanced manufacturing, and workforce resources of the Tech Hub to accelerate the most promising innovations.

Press Release

• Biden-Harris Administration Designates Tech Hub in Brunswick, Maine to Advance the Biomaterial Production and Manufacturing Sector

Additional Designations Earned in Region