The Science and Technology Advisory Council of Gov. Don Carcieri '65 announced last month a statewide initiative to allocate $1.5 million in collaborative research awards and infrastructure support to hospitals, universities and other research and development organizations.
The deadline for submitting proposals for collaborative research awards is today. The council plans to announce research award recipients in early January.
The program is part of the governor's push to boost Rhode Island's national science and technology sector profile, with initiatives ranging from placing robotics programs in each of the state's 67 public secondary schools to making Rhode Island the country's center for bionics.
To fund the proposals, the Rhode Island Research Alliance is coupling $1.5 million in state money with a $6.75 million EPSCoR grant from the National Science Foundation.
Every project must have the commercialization potential to contribute to the state's economic development.
The RIRA received 48 pre-proposals for collaborative research award money, but applicants that did not submit pre-proposals by the Nov. 8 deadline are still eligible to receive the maximum project grant of $200,000 from the STAC, according to Melissa Withers, director of communications and marketing for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.
Guidelines specify that proposals must provide for combined efforts among companies, academic institutions and hospitals.
"The interesting thing is you tend to see more interdisciplinary interaction (in the pre-proposals)," Withers said. "The pre-proposals are a really nice cross-section, a mix of life sciences and chemistry" and potentially other fields.
While the collaborative research grants are awarded by the STAC, the RIEDC is partnered with the council and provided funds for the salary of the program director for 2006 and potentially 2007.
"(The RIEDC) has made a catalytic commitment with (the University of Rhode Island) and Brown to staff the council," Withers said.
Vice President for Research Clyde Briant stressed the University's role in enhancing the state's science and technology sectors.
"Strengthening the state's position as a locus for world-class research and development and as a hub for innovation is an important part of building a bright future for Rhode Island," he said in an Oct. 10 press release. Briant currently co-chairs the 13-member STAC.
Brown and URI combined efforts in 2003 when the state received $3 million in EPSCoR grants for projects in the life sciences. But prior to the STAC's creation by Carcieri's executive order in 2005, "there was no platform to focus leadership on creating an innovation economy," said RIEDC Executive Director Saul Kaplan in a July 2006 letter to the Providence Journal.
"STAC delivered the 'innovateRI' report, urging state leadership to promote collaboration across Rhode Island's research institutions, to deepen support for entrepreneurs and company creation, and to help all Rhode Island businesses and institutions become more innovative," Kaplan said.
"STAC made five recommendations to jump-start this effort. Thanks in part to the leadership of Gov. Carcieri, House Majority Leader (Rep). Gordon Fox (D-Dist. 4), and Sen. William Walaska (D-Dist. 30), all five recommendations were supported. STAC is well-positioned to continue its efforts," Kaplan said.
The $1.5 million of funding authorized by the General Assembly is one of several legislative initiatives recommended in the January 2006 innovateRI report. Briant and other council members are responsible for implementation of the remaining recommendations as well as developing a new set of legislative proposals and ideas for 2007.
Of the $1.5 million in state aid, $350,000 goes toward infrastructure development within the state's EPSCoR program. Among the state's EPSCoR projects are the establishment of three statewide core facilities: the Rhode Island Center for Excellence in the Marine Life Sciences, the Rhode Island Center for Genomics and the Rhode Island Center for Proteomics. Recently, Rhode Island submitted another EPSCoR proposal to the Department of Energy to pursue renewable energy resources and biofuels.
Among STAC's efforts is enhancing science and technology curricula in state high schools. A $140,000 robotics program announced Oct. 5 for Rhode Island public schools will be the first of its kind in the country.
"Supporting this program is a natural fit with STAC's mission to strengthen the state's basic research platform, encourage entrepreneurship and contribute to efforts that prepare Rhode Island's children for the jobs of tomorrow," said Jeffrey Seemann, Dean of the College of Environmental and Life Sciences at URI and co-chair of the STAC.
"We cannot afford to fail in preparing our students for ...jobs that will require skills in math, science, and engineering," Carcieri said in an Oct. 5 press release.
According to Carcieri, higher education is one of Rhode Island's main attractions.
"The biggest factor in a state or country is first of all the health of the economy," Carcieri told The Herald in an Oct. 30 interview. "At the end of the day, the biggest asset other than that we're a pretty state and a great place to live with a lot of natural beauty and history is our brainpower ...we need to harness that in an economic development strategy."
According to the STAC, Rhode Island has the highest concentration of higher education insitutions of any state, with 86 colleges and universities located in a 50-mile radius.
"We got a $10 million pool for the next three years," Carcieri said. "That's the kind of thing, when you get the university engaged and you get into a whole discussion of economic development, that I think is really fun. We're ready. We've got the money."
