September 27, 2006

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) Board has approved an additional $37 million in monetary awards to fund an additional 24 proposals that were ranked “highly recommended” in the first round of the 21st Century Jobs Fund competition.  Sixty one proposals have already been funded by the Michigan Strategic Economic Investment and Commercialization (SEIC) Board.

“These 85 proposals represent the ‘best of the best’ and will lead to new high-tech companies and high-paying jobs in Michigan,” Granholm said. “The world’s largest science and engineering organization, after intense review, rated these proposals as highly recommended, and they are now fully funded.”

Earlier this month, the SEIC Board voted to seek the additional $37 million to fund an additional 24 highly-recommend proposals. Without today’s MSF Board action, only 61 projects would receive funding. The SEIC Board will meet on October 16 to finalize the awards process.

From 505 initial proposals, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) selected 179 finalists for in-depth interviews and proposal peer reviews.  Due the large number of quality proposals and limited funding, the SEIC voted to fund 61 proposals using more than $100 million of the approximately $174 million allotted for commercialization, investment funds and other programs in FY 2006-07.

The 21st Century Jobs Fund is Governor Granholm’s $2 billion, ten-year initiative to accelerate the diversification of Michigan’s economy. The commercialization component of the initiative devotes approximately $800 million for competitive-edge technologies in the targeted sectors of life sciences, alternative energy, advanced automotive materials and manufacturing, and homeland security/defense. 

The MSF is responsible for allocating for capital investments, commercial lending, and commercialization development under the 21st Century Jobs Fund. The SEIC has independent responsibility for grants and loans made to support competitive-edge technology investments.