Proposals are requested to identify USU research with high commercial potential to be considered for USTAR funding.

Due Dates: Review of proposals will begin on November 15, 2007, and continue thereafter to meet the schedule of the USTAR Governing Board. RFP Questions can be directed to LJ Bolton (lj.bolton@usu.edu, ext. 9607), or Ned Weinshenker (ned.weinshenker@usu.edu, ext. 9602).

Background

The intent of the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) legislation is to increase research capacity at Utah State University and the University of Utah, and especially to more effectively commercialize the resulting discoveries and inventions. With USTAR funding, we have made great progress over the last 18 months, having created research teams in three general focus areas: advanced nutrition; active sensing and imaging; and biofuels. In addition, we proposed the development of a fourth research focus (high flux neutron generation) at the October 5th meeting of the USTAR Governing Board. At this point, we have committed virtually all of the USTAR resources currently available to the university to these four research areas.
The USTAR Governing Board, however, has made the decision to request that the legislature, in the 2008 session, increase funding to this initiative. For USU, that would mean an additional $4 million/year that we could invest in additional research teams. If the increase is passed, the additional funding will be available starting in July 2008.

Need

To support the Governing Board’s contention that there are additional promising projects at USU that could lead to economic development, we need to identify a list of new areas of research at USU in which we might invest.
You are invited to submit proposals in areas that have strong economic development potential. By November 15, 2007, we hope to have several USU proposals identified so that the USTAR Governing Board can use them in their lobbying efforts with the Legislature as examples of research projects that could be supported if additional funds were available.

Criteria for Selection

USTAR is an economic development initiative intended to increase the flow and commercialization of university discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Therefore, proposals will be judged on the likelihood that the research will develop intellectual property with high commercialization potential (e.g., licenses, startup companies, and products). Multidisciplinary research proposals involving several investigators are strongly preferred.

Review Process

The USU USTAR Executive Committee will be comprised of the Provost, Vice President for Research, and Vice President for Strategic Ventures and Economic Development. The following is the full process for moving a proposal to the funding stage:

1. Faculty member(s) conceive of and suggest a new focus area and the internal team supporting the proposal.
2. The proposal is brought to the appropriate dean(s) and department head(s) for initial vetting with them and a representative of the Technology Commercialization Office (TCO).
3. If approved, the proposal is forwarded to the USU USTAR Executive Committee for review.
4. If approved by the Executive Committee, the team is then charged with producing the full proposal (“white paper”), and a member of the TCO is assigned to join the team and help prepare the full proposal.

The white paper is reviewed by the Executive Committee again. If it is deemed acceptable, a presentation package is prepared, a budget is finalized, and a presentation is made to the USTAR Governing Board for approval.