Sen. Milner urges $100 million research pilot to scale applied university research; references HB 373

Senator Milner told the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee that Utah should invest $100 million in a targeted research pilot to accelerate applied research, attract matching grants and scale university innovations into businesses that create jobs.

Milner said the pilot would prioritize areas the state has existing capacity in — including advanced robotics, biotech and genomics, AI and secure computing, energy storage and critical minerals, and aerospace — and emphasized that matching funds improve the competitiveness of grant applications. "This is our chance to start to do that and research," he said, adding that the pilot would fund projects that show "skin in the game" and partner with private, federal and nonprofit funders.

To illustrate the economic payoff, Milner highlighted local examples of research-to-market success: a University of Utah robotics team (Paladine) and BioFire (later part of BioMIR), both of which grew from campus research to companies employing hundreds and thousands of people. He said the proposed pilot would be targeted rather than a general research slush fund and referenced work on a House bill (HB 373) that shapes the proposal's criteria.

Committee members asked where the one-time money would come from and discussed trade-offs; Milner said executive appropriations would determine funding sources and characterized the proposal as additive rather than a reallocation of existing research dollars. Senators present broadly voiced support for targeted investments that would translate existing strengths into economic and national-security outcomes.