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FLORIDA'S CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
April 29, 2005
The Florida Legislature is suffering from an "embarrassment of riches" this year. Thanks to a healthy
economy, lawmakers have a $2 billion surplus from which to fund the state's needs.
This is a great time to invest a tiny portion of that surplus in Florida's economic future.
By putting $50 million into the state's Centers of Excellence research and development program, lawmakers
will help advance scientific discovery while encouraging lab-to-marketplace "tech transfers" that will
create new companies and grow new jobs.
The Centers of Excellence program was begun two years ago with a $30 million allocation. That enabled the
state to award $10 million each to three state university research enterprises - including the University
of Florida's Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology.
UF's center has since used that $10 million to generate an additional $13.2 million in federal and private
research funding.
A University of Central Florida Center of Excellence in photonics has raised an additional $15.1 million and
helped create three new startup companies. A biomed center at Florida Atlantic University has seen similar
successes.
The Centers of Excellence Program essentially takes state "seed money" and uses it to support research and
development that will help Florida achieve its goal of being competitive in a high-tech economy.
Last year, the program was not funded. A proposal to add $50 million this year would allow UF and the other
state universities to compete to develop still new research centers.
With UF on the verge of completing a new genetics-cancer research facility, it will be in an even better
position to attract world-class scientists and still more federal and private funding. For the state to add
its support is simply good business sense.
The Florida Research Consortium points out that state university research already is a $1.3 billion enterprise.
And yet, Florida still lags far behind states such as California, Massachusetts and North Carolina in attracting
federal and private research funding and venture capital.
The state's Centers of Excellence program is a modest attempt to make Florida more competitive in the hunt for
high-tech jobs. Every dollar invested in Centers of Excellence, such as the one at UF, stimulates $25 in economic
activity.
If anything, $50 million is too little money for the returns Florida can expect on its Centers of Excellence
investment.
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