At the March meeting of the Arizona Board of Regents, the state's public universities reported successful gains coming from three years of funding on the use of Proposition 301 voter-approved funds towards science and technology investment.

Richard Powell, vice president of research and graduate studies at the University of Arizona, reported that the funds generated by Proposition 301 yielded eight startup companies, 82 patent applications, 51 new faculty experts, 131 new industrial partners and $180 million in new, large research grants.

"We have either met or exceeded all the metrics," Powell told the Regents in March. The Arizona Daily Star pointed out that while an outside review showed that the 301 funding had been used "appropriately and with outstanding success," it also had underwritten two lagging programs in the Arizona Center for Information Science and Technology and a distance-learning program.

The report on ASU's funding, drawn up by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, indicated that the major recipient of funding was the Biodesign Institute, an innovative research group partnered with the Translational Genomics Research Institute and other Valley healthcare groups. According to the report, the sales tax revenues also sparked $3.7 million in additional revenue, as well as a $47.7 million hike in external research grants. ASU boasted 64 research-related faculty recruits, 26 new courses in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information science, and 10 spin-off companies. Also, 41 new research collaborations were initiated with industry partners and national labs.

ASU's report also credited Proposition 301 funding for the hiring of renown scientist George Poste to lead the Biodesign Institute. All three Arizona universities received the money as part of the technology and research initiative fund (TRIF) from a voter-approved a 0.6 percent sales tax hike in November 2000.

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For more information:

"UA research grants quadruple the sales tax funds invested," Arizona Daily Star, 03/12/2005

UA news release, 03/13/2005

"New Returns, FY 2002-FY 2004"