Yahoo Finance New $500 million NCInnovation program awards first grants. Here’s where money is going
Lithium refining, honeybee hive production and a solution to power-grid failures are among the initial batch of university projects a new taxpayer-backed state organization is betting on to find success in the commercial marketplace.
On Thursday, NCInnovation awarded pilot grants worth a combined $5.2 million to eight projects across seven UNC System universities, an initial step supporters say will help North Carolina reap the benefits of the research its colleges produce.
Under last year’s state budget, NCInnovation received $250 million to establish an endowment to help state university researchers convert their ideas into revenue-generating businesses. The budget reserved another $250 million in public funding for the group this fiscal year.
The organization’s leaders say such a significant investment was needed for North Carolina to keep pace with similar efforts supported by economic rivals like Georgia and Ohio. Projects with commercial potential may languish or move to another state if not properly funded through the cost-intensive research and development phase, NCInnovation CEO Bennet Waters told The News & Observer last year.
NCInnovation is oriented toward identifying commercialization opportunities outside the Triangle area, with regional hubs established at UNC-Charlotte, North Carolina A&T, East Carolina University and Western Carolina University. In fact, none of the initial pilot grants announced this week were given to projects at UNC-Chapel Hill or NC State.
“When I took this job last year, some suggested to me that universities outside of the Triangle won’t have enough compelling applied research worth supporting,” NCInnovation executive vice president Michelle Bolas said in a statement Thursday. “It’s just not true! There is incredible work going on at universities all over North Carolina that people don’t know about, but they will now.”
In its statement Thursday, NCInnovation said each of the eight pilot research projects have “already achieved proof of concept,” and were selected after a multi-step application review. Any companies formed from this public money are required to keep their headquarters in the state for at least five years.
Formed as a nonprofit in 2020, NCInnovation was a controversial inclusion in last year’s state budget — and continues to spark debate across and within party lines. In the 2023 budget, the organization asked for a one-time payment of $1.425 billion, which would have been the largest single spending item ever designated to a nonstate entity in North Carolina. In contrast, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Republican-controlled House each proposed the nonprofit receive $50 million. The budget ultimately allocated the group $500 million.
NCInnovation said its initial project grants were funded entirely from the interest earned on its endowment.
As a public-private partnership, NCInnovation has 13 board positions — eight filled by the GOP-controlled legislature. The five other positions are held by those who had previously served on the NCInnovation board.
This governance structure, along with the amount of taxpayer funding NCInnocation received, continues to give the governor pause about the initiative. In his latest budget recommendations, Cooper proposed the next $250 million payment slated for NCInnovation instead be repurposed to expand child care access.
“Investing in innovation can be positive for our state but there must be accountability to the taxpayers,” said Ford Porter, a spokesperson for the governor’s office. “The governor has supported investing in this effort but believes an additional $250 million could be put to better use supporting quality child care in North Carolina.”
Porter also raised concerns his office has over the organization’s public transparency. According to the budget, NCInnovation must file annual reports before Sept. 15 to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, which is co-chaired by House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger. These reports include each grant awarded, fiscal budgets, performance metrics, explanations on how NCInnovation staff salaries are determined, and any outcome data the organization collects on job creation.
For its pilot grants, NCInnovation said it identified projects that were “already fairly advanced.” The organization says it may adjust its procedures during the pilot process before scaling up the initiative across the UNC System, which includes 16 public universities and 58 community colleges.
Here are NCInnovation’s eight pilot projects:
Hemali Rathnayake at UNC-Greensboro is heading the development of a process to convert lithium into lithium carbonate for batteries.
Brian Byrd at Western Carolina University is developing a device to analyze mosquito signals. This could help researchers better track mosquito-carried diseases.
Jordan Poler of UNC-Charlotte has developed a material that removes compounds deemed dangerous by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from drinking water.
Rukiyah Van Dross-Anderson of East Carolina University is working on a novel cancer treatment for melanoma patients.
Kristen Dellinger of N.C. AT&T is leading an effort to address neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s by developing a way to move therapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier.
Sukumar Kamalasadan at UNC-Charlotte has created a technology that purports to supply uninterrupted grid power to customers, like hospitals, that might face significant negative consequences during prolonged outages.
Ying Wang at UNC-Wilmington is developing a vaccine platform they believe could eventually lead to a better flu vaccine.
Rahman Tashakkori of Appalachian State University is designing a tool to elevate honeybee hive production and decrease the number of hives that die.
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