News Releases for June 2007
June 20, 2007
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Hoeven Announces $1.5 Million EDA Matching Grant For UND Life Science Center Of Excellence
BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Economic Development Administration has approved a $1.5 million matching grant to help fund the Center of Excellence for Life Sciences and Advanced Technologies (COELSAT) at the University of North Dakota. Hoeven received confirmation of the grant’s approval today in a telephone call with office of U.S. Commerce Department Assistant Secretary Sandy K. Baruah’s.
“This financial collaboration between the private sector and state, federal and university partners represents the kind of leverage the Centers of Excellence program can help forge,” Hoeven said. “A $3.5 million investment by the state has now attracted $1.5 million from the federal government, which together with private and university sources will fund the more than $12 million center.”
The Centers of Excellence committee awarded the project $3.5 million toward the $12 million facility, which broke ground in December. The building and the research park will be managed by the UND Research Foundation, and seeks to develop commercial products based on life science research. It’s expected to create 100 to 120 jobs. The Federal EDA program often favors past funded projects, such as the Center of Innovation, an earlier Center of Excellence on the same site.
The new center will create new jobs through the commercialization of research into high-value products that are developed and made in North Dakota. COELSAT, a 50,000 sq ft state-of-the-art secured facility, will reside on the 19.5 acre Research Enterprise and Commercialization Park (REAC) and will have 34,000 sq ft of laboratories and 16,000 sq ft of office space. At the end of 5 years, COELSAT/REAC will bring in more than $50 million in combined funding and revenue with 80 percent of the jobs employed in new markets that will diversify and strengthen North Dakota's economy.
Five private sector companies – Avianax, NovaDigm, Prologic, Alion, Inc., and Ideal Aerosmith – representing four life sciences and advanced technologies clusters have designed research and office space in the facility. Most of the companies are coming from out of state to work with UND faculty on research projects or to develop relationships for student intern programs, according to center officials.
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