Senate hears proposal for $20 million to expand NDSU Research and Technology Park into robotics hub

Senators on the Workforce Development Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 2256 on a proposal to provide a one-time $20,000,000 appropriation to the NDSU Research and Technology Park to build a center focused on advanced robotics, precision agriculture and dual-use defense technologies.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ron Sarvaj, told the committee the appropriation is written as a continuing appropriation in statute language but is intended as a one-time $20 million payment that would end June 30, 2027. Sarvaj said the park is a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit that uses the NDSU name because the university owns land used by the park and that the proposal is intended to expand the park’s mission toward engineering, prototyping and product development for industry.

The park’s chief executive, Brenda Weiland, described the plan as a shift from purely campus-affiliated research toward rapid product development and commercialization. "We are a separate 501 C3 nonprofit organization," Weiland told the committee, adding the park will build an engineering team to convert technology into marketable products and to partner with private industry and existing in-state test assets like Grand Farm and Grand Sky.

Weiland said the park is pursuing a formal partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC). Jeff Legault, associate director at NREC, told the committee that NREC began with public seed funding and grew into a self-sustaining center that generated large amounts of R&D and spawned startups. "Without that initial funding, we would not exist," Legault said, describing NREC’s experience of scaling technical staff and attracting industry partners.

Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. James Clough testified in support and described how a locally based advanced-robotics capability could speed defense-related development cycles from decades to months. "The Tech Park can absolutely contribute to that ecosystem in a way that we desperately need," he said.

Committee staff from the Industrial Commission described how the bill’s administration could mirror existing arrangements used for the Energy and Environmental Research Center: the Industrial Commission would hold the appropriation, contract with the park and receive periodic reports and deliverables.

Committee members asked about overlap with existing state assets. Sponsors and witnesses repeatedly stressed the proposal would not duplicate Grand Farm or the EERC but would instead aim to leverage those assets for environmental testing and to focus on product development and commercialization. Weiland said the park currently supports about 620 jobs and reported an annual payroll impact of about $52 million; the testimony forecast additional direct and indirect job creation if the center is funded and grows.

The hearing did not include a committee vote on the bill. Committee members closed the public portion of the hearing and moved to the next scheduled business.

The committee received written testimony and multiple supporters appeared in person to answer questions; no formal action on the bill was recorded at the hearing.