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USTAR

In March 2006, the Utah State Legislature passed Senate Bill 75 creating the Utah Science, Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR). This measure provided funding for investments at the University of Utah (U of U) and Utah State University (USU) to recruit researchers, build interdisciplinary research and development facilities, and to form science, innovation, and commercialization teams across the state. This initiative focuses on leveraging the assets of Utah’s research universities (U of U and USU) in creating and commercializing innovative technologies to generate more technology-based start-up firms, higher paying jobs, and additional business activity leading to a state-wide expansion of Utah’s tax base.

Research Teams
USTAR has recruited research teams to Utah and developed internally within six focus areas. The focus areas are meant to be based on the Universities’ existing strengths and have commercialization opportunities, address large markets ranging from statewide to global, and leverage Utah’s industry strengths. The specific focus areas and research teams are:

Research Facilities
USTAR funding supports construction of facilities at the University of Utah and Utah State University. The buildings are meant to provide research teams with advanced facilities aimed at innovation and commercialization of their respective focus areas. Funding for the projects came in March 2006 when State legislators created a $161 million USTAR building fund. The universities are providing a $40 million match, bringing the entire building budget to $201 million. The USTAR legislation required both of the research universities to donate land and make significant contributions towards the cost of the building prior to construction. Both the U of U and USU have designated land that will be used.

Utah State University

USU donated a 33,000 square-foot building in Innovation Campus which has been designated Phase I and is being used to house the existing innovation teams. The Utah State Legislature and Governing Authority approved the donation of both Building 620 and accompanying land to satisfy the university’s $10 million contribution. The Construction Manager General Contractor (CMGC) for the building at USU is Gramoll Construction and the Architectural & Engineering (AE) firm is AJC Architects. Payette Associates will design some of the lab space. The facilities are to include a Bio Safety Level 3+ lab, a vivarium, a clinical nutrition center, and life science labs. This building will be located in the Innovation Campus on the north side of the entire USU complex in Logan. The groundbreaking for the USU building took place Oct. 17th, and the facility is projected to open in 2011.

University of Utah

The CMGC for the building at the University of Utah is Layton Construction and the AE firm is Lord Aeck Sargent. At the U of U, groundbreaking took place on April 22 (Earth Day) 2009, with the facility slated to open in 2012. The building construction process is being led by Project Managers from the Department of Facilities and Construction Management (DFCM). The facilities will include labs for nanofabrication, small animal imaging, optical imaging, neurosciences, biotechnology, as well as a vivarium and data center. Recently the Sorenson Legacy Foundation donated $15 million, and the new building will be named the "James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building - A USTAR Innovation Center." This follows a $1.25 million donation from the Micron Technology Foundation. The new building is to be part of a four-building interdisciplinary quadrangle which will be located between lower and upper campus and act as a central unifier between the work in the College of Engineering and the Health and Medical School. The building is LEED certified.

Technology Outreach Innovation Program (TOIP)
USTAR’s Technology Outreach Innovation Program (TOIP) supports commercialization activities by lending business expertise to local opportunities and focus areas. USTAR’s TOIP is the organization meant to help commercialize the research being done by USTAR research teams at the research universities. TOIP directors assist in creating businesses along the same lines of USTAR focus areas and research teams. The regional program is led by five industry-experienced directors across Utah. Each director heads an Outreach Center located at one of the state’s higher educational institutions. The TOIP directors promote commercialization of local discoveries and technologies emanating from the State’s research universities and enable technology-based entrepreneurial activities in their respective geographical areas. The directors assist in expanding the transfer of new or improved technologies from state universities to existing companies and advancing research on behalf of Utah’s leading firms. Besides working with emerging and existing technology businesses and entrepreneurs in their regions, the directors have pursued regional initiatives. More detail on these activities is provided below.

TOIP Directors

Salt Lake/Tooele area (includes Salt Lake and Tooele Counties): Suzanne Winters. The Salt Lake/Tooele outreach center is located at Salt Lake Community College. Northern Utah area (includes Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Morgan, Rich and Weber Counties): Curt Roberts. The Northern Utah outreach center is located at Weber State University.

Northern Utah area (includes Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Morgan, Rich and Weber Counties): Curt Roberts. The Northern Utah outreach center is located at Weber State University.

Central Utah area (includes Summit, Utah and Wasatch Counties): Steven Roy. The Central Utah area outreach center is located at Utah Valley University.

Eastern Utah area (includes Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Grand, San Juan and Uintah Counties): Al Walker. The Eastern Utah outreach centers are located at Utah State University- Vernal and The Energy and Geoscience Institute at The University of Utah.

Southern Utah area (includes Beaver, Garfield, Juab, Kane, Iron, Millard, Piute, San Pete, Sevier, Washington and Wayne Counties): Bill Pratt. The Southern Utah outreach centers are located at Southern Utah University and Dixie State College.

Other TOIP Projects
SBIR/STTR Assistance Program In an effort to assist small technology businesses and entrepreneurs, USTAR, Salt Lake Community College, Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Small Business Administration have opened the SBIR/STTR Assistance Center located at the Miller Corporate Partnership Center in Sandy.

The SBIR/STTR Assistance Center assists technology companies in matching their technology products to possible SBIR/STTR grants as well as assisting in the writing and submittal process. The center also presents training and provides workshops.

BioInnovation Gateway (BiG) Project Located within the Granite Technical Institute (GTI) in Salt Lake City, the BioInnovation Gateway (BiG) project is a model of business incubation. Up to seven companies will access state-of-the-art biotech and engineering equipment used in the Biomanufacturing and Biotechnology programs of Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) and Granite School District.

BiG will offer biotech start-up businesses and students shared facilities, equipment, technical resources, and talent. The three primary objectives of BiG are:

•	To provide early-stage Life Science companies a cost-effective competitive edge by sharing space, equipment, and talent.

•	To train outstanding students to develop creative thinking skills in a product-driven environment. Participating BiG students will earn degree credit at GTI, SLCC, or Utah Valley University.

•	To offer third-party contract research services.

Scheduled to open in January 2009, BiG is primarily funded through federal grants and the GSD for the first three years, after which it will become self-sustaining.

Digital Media Alliance

The newly created Utah Digital Media Alliance is a cooperative effort between industry, local universities and colleges, and government to help the digital media industry in Utah by promoting the discovery of new innovations, creating new high-paying jobs through fostering talent development and recruitment, and commercialization opportunities.

Funding
State tax funding for USTAR is as follows: Ongoing $15 million yearly for researcher recruitment and support, $4 million yearly for regional Technology Outreach (TOIP). One-time funding for the building projects* includes: $50 million from General Fund, $111 million in bonding, and $40 million matching contributions from the universities ($30 million from the U of U and $10 million from USU). The Utah legislature authorized the following General Obligation (GO) bonding amounts that have not yet been issued: $111 million for USTAR buildings (2006 authorization). USU has met the $10 million requirement to receive $40 million of state-issued GO bonds to construct the Bio Innovations Research Institute. The U of U anticipates meeting its $30 million requirement by the first quarter of 2009 to receive $70 million of state-issued GO bonds for the Neuroscience and Biomedical Technology Research Building. Neither project anticipates bonding this year. •	The U of U building project has a budget of $130 million, while USU’s has a budget of $60 million for new construction, and $10 million represented by the current Building 620 facility.

Organization
The USTAR Governing Authority board is a team with experiences in invention, entrepreneurship, financial capital, university research, and running and growing companies. Dinesh Patel, Ph.D., Managing Director, vSpring Capital (Chairman); Scott Anderson, CEO, Zions Bank (Vice Chairman); Ed Alter, Utah State Treasurer’s Office; Jim Dreyfous, Managing Director, UV Partners; Hunter Jackson, Ph.D., former CEO of NPS Pharmaceuticals and currently Executive Director, Technology Venture Development, U of U; Dan Olsen, Ph.D., Brigham Young University; Cynthia Burrows, Professor in Organic and Biological Chemistry, University of Utah; Charles J. Precourt, VP of Business Development, ATK; Rich Linder, CEO, Coherex Medical Inc.

USTAR’s Advisory Board is a council that represents the business community across Utah and meets regularly to advise USTAR.

Lane Beattie, President & CEO, Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce; Robert T. Behunin, Ph.D., Executive Director for University Advancement, Utah State University Uintah Basin; Dave L. Clark, President & CEO, Prolexy’s; Dave Cutler, VP - Customer Service, Novell; Jeff Edwards, President & CEO, EDCUtah; Sandra Emile, President, Cache Chamber of Commerce; Dave Hardman, President & CEO, Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce; Josh Little, Shareholder, Durham, Jones and Pinegar; Richard Nelson, President & CEO, Utah Technology Council; Jason Perry, Executive Director, Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Sean Slatter, President & CEO, Logistic Specialties; TBD: One member appointed by the Utah Nanotechnology Initiative

USTAR Staff The USTAR organization is comprised of regional technology outreach staff (directors, analysts, and interns) and headquarters personnel. The TOIP offices work with local entrepreneurs and businesses, provide consulting to the university USTAR research teams, and pursue regional initiatives. The headquarters team supports the TOIP offices, and provides executive administration, accounting/finance, and marketing/communications services.