A. The "technology enhancement fund" is created in the state treasury. The fund shall consist of appropriations, income from investment of the fund, gifts, grants, donations and bequests. Money in the fund shall not revert at the end of any fiscal year. The fund shall be administered by the higher education department. Money in the fund shall be used to provide matching funds for federal or private grants to research institutions to support innovative applied research that advances knowledge and creates new products and production processes in the fields of agriculture, biotechnology, biomedicine energy, materials science, microelectronics, water resources, aerospace, telecommunications, manufacturing science and similar research areas. Money from the fund shall be expended on warrants of the secretary of finance and administration upon vouchers signed by the secretary of higher education or the secretary's authorized representative. B. Grants from the fund are available to research institutions. A research institution may apply for a grant from the fund in accordance with rules promulgated by the higher education department. Allocations from the fund shall be based on a competitive process with applications reviewed by a panel of scientific and business experts established by the department. The review panel may determine new research areas and shall judge grant proposals based on excellence in research design and possible innovation and an assessment of a proposal's projected: (1) cross-disciplinary, multi-campus and higher education-industry research collaboration; and (2) benefits for economic development and rural and tribal communities. C. To apply for a grant, an applicant must have equal or greater matching money for the proposal from sources other than the state. A grant from the technology enhancement fund shall not be used to supplant matching money that an applicant has expended or encumbered for a previously received grant. D. As used in this section, "research institution" means Navajo technical university, New Mexico state university, the New Mexico institute of mining and technology or the university of New Mexico. History: Laws 2003, ch. 367, § 1; 2024, ch. 19, § 1. The 2024 amendment, effective May 15, 2024, amended provisions governing the technology enhancement fund to provide matching funds for federal or private grants to research institutions, provided that the grant review panel must also consider the benefits for economic development and for rural and tribal communities when judging grant proposals, and defined "research institution"; substituted "higher education department" for "commission on higher education" throughout the section; in Subsection A, after "matching funds" added "for federal or private grants" and after "to" deleted "state research universities" and added "research institutions"; in Subsection B, after "available to" deleted "state research universities that are conducting collaborative research with corporate and nonprofit organizations" and added "research institutions", after "A" deleted "state research university" and added "research institution", after "The review panel" added "may determine new research areas and", after "possible innovation" deleted "in" and added "and an assessment of a proposal's projected", in Paragraph B(1), after "research collaboration" deleted "The review panel may determine new research areas", and added Paragraph B(2); in Subsection C, after "apply for a grant" deleted "a state research university" and added "an applicant" and after "other than the state" added "A grant from the technology enhancement fund shall not be used to supplant matching money that an applicant has expended or encumbered for a previously received grant."; and added Subsection D.
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