AN ACT
RELATING TO HIGHER EDUCATION; CREATING
THE TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT FUND; PROVIDING MATCHING FUNDS TO RESEARCH
UNIVERSITIES FOR INNOVATIVE APPLIED RESEARCH TO CREATE NEW PRODUCTS AND
PRODUCTION PROCESSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF
THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT FUND
CREATED--ALLOCATIONS--APPLICATION REVIEW PANELS.--
A. The "technology enhancement fund"
is created in the state treasury. The
fund shall consist of appropriations, income from investment of the fund,
gifts, grants, donations and bequests.
Money in the fund shall not revert at the end of any fiscal year. The fund shall be administered by the
commission on higher education. Money in
the fund shall be used to provide matching funds to state research universities
to support innovative applied research that advances knowledge and creates new
products and production processes in the fields of agriculture, biotechnology,
biomedicine energy, materials science, microelectronics, water resources,
aerospace, telecommunications, manufacturing science and similar research
areas. Money from the fund shall be
expended on warrants of the secretary of finance and administration upon
vouchers signed by the executive director of the commission on higher education
or the executive director's authorized representative.
B. Grants from the fund are available to state
research universities that are conducting collaborative research with corporate
and nonprofit organizations. A state
research university may apply for a grant from the fund in accordance with
rules promulgated by the commission on higher education. Allocations from the fund shall be based on a
competitive process with applications reviewed by a panel of scientific and
business experts established by the commission.
The review panel shall judge proposals based on excellence in research
design and possible innovation in cross-disciplinary, multi-campus and higher
education-industry research collaboration.
The review panel may determine new research areas.
C. To apply for a grant, a state research
university must have equal or greater matching funds for the proposal from
sources other than the state.
HB 391
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