Utah Governor Outlines Funding for TBED in FY07 Budget Request

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. released last week his fiscal year 2007 budget request, providing a substantial boost in funding for the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative. In FY 2005, the legislature appropriated $4 million to fund the initial phase of the initiative. This year, the governor is recommending $62 million for infrastructure and programs.

Under the governor's request, $50 million in one-time funding would be used for building new research laboratories at the University of Utah (U of U) and Utah State University (USU). Program funding includes $11 million of additional ongoing money for a total of $15 million to continue attracting research teams to the state and $1 million of ongoing money for commercialization of research and the creation of Innovation Centers.

The USTAR initiative is designed to attract world-class research teams in targeted disciplines where Utah already has distinct competitive advantages, according to the governor's office. The teams develop products and services that can be commercialized in new business industries that will create higher-paying jobs. Last year, the $4 million appropriation was used to recruit and hire two senior research teams at U of U and one research team at USU.

The governor's FY07 budget request also includes an one-time allocation of $1.3 million for Centers of Excellence and ongoing funding of $250,000 each for the Cluster Initiative (see the July 11 issue of the Digest) and Technology Parks. The legislature appropriated $1 million to the Centers of Excellence Program in FY06, including $500,000 in one-time funding and $500,000 in ongoing funding.

Gov. Huntsman's FY07 Budget Recommendations are available at: http://governor.utah.gov/gopb/budget.html