Saturday, February 7, 2009

Gov. Henry seeks aid for research endowment

The state research fund, Economic Development Generating Excellence, needs additional financial support to reach its account goal and to generate more job
opportunities, according to Gov. Brad Henry.

EDGE, if successful, would pay $4 million to OU over the next two years. The research funds would be distributed among the engineering, weather and wind energy programs over that the two year time period.

"Through EDGE, [Oklahoma] will be able to spin off more high paying jobs and form new corporations," said Paul Sund, Gov. Brad Henry's communications director.

The EDGE research endowment is currently worth about $150 million, but lawmakers hope to see the fund eventually accumulate to $1 billion. The program funded five research projects last year, including two that were on OU's campus.

Funding from the state will supplement the grant if the state legislation passes the bill this year. If the bill does not pass this year, then EDGE will continue funding the current projects that it is supporting, but the expansion of EDGE to other research projects would be hindered.

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