Indiana TBED Investments to Surpass $100M: 2008-09 Budget Includes New $20M Life Sciences Fund

Indiana's General Assembly adjourned for the year last week, after passing a $29 billion budget that included more than $100 million for TBED-related programs.

 

The budget contributes $20 million to a new Life Sciences Fund that will provide grants of $15 million and $5 million to the Indiana School of Medicine and Purdue University, respectively, for life sciences research. Late last year, Gov. Mitch Daniels had proposed leasing the state's lottery to a private firm in order to generate more than $1 billion for the Life Sciences Fund and undergraduate scholarships (see the Dec. 18, 2006 and Jan. 15, 2007 issues of the SSTI Weekly Digest). That plan would have made more than $400 million available for life sciences research; however, it was not approved by the General Assembly. The approved measure follows on the heels of Purdue University's announcement that it would partner with the Arthur Mann Foundation to establish a $100 million biomedical engineering research center (press release is available here).

 

The budget provides $70 million over the next biennium to the state's 21st Century Research and Development Fund to continue its support of technology development and commercialization. Created in 1999, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) uses the fund to offer loans and grants to companies bringing new technologies to market, to match SBIR grants, and to create university centers of excellence. Awards to private companies range between $40,000 and $5 million.

 

The General Assembly also approved a state High Growth Business Incentive Grant and Loan program to encourage businesses offering high-paying jobs to locate or expand in Indiana. IEDC will receive $6 million over the next two years to administer the program. In addition, IEDC will receive $4.2 million to continue its Technology Development Grant program, which supports the creation and expansion of technology parks.