Since its inception in 2005, the R.I. Science & Technology Advisory Council (STAC) has been working to transform the state’s economy from one born in the Industrial Age to one firmly planted in the era of computers and biotechnology.

Over the past three years the council has nurtured entrepreneurship, encouraged the birth and growth of new companies, helped schools and hospitals win federal grants and studied ways to make the University of Rhode Island a nationally competitive research institution.

“STAC’s core mission is to be an innovation champion,” said Christine Smith, the council’s program manager. It’s a role that has been recognized by STAC being named the Innovation Champion for organizations in this year’s Rhode Island Innovation Awards program.

The council — a dozen leaders from academia, business, state government and elsewhere – was created by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri through executive order. Its first order of business: to assess Rhode Island’s ability to grow an economy based on innovation. The next year the General Assembly passed legislation to keep the group working on new recommendations for economic growth.

The current agenda, according to Melissa Withers of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation (EDC), includes three goals: “Increase Rhode Island’s research and development capacity, encourage entrepreneurship and new company creation and put into place policies and programs that will allow Rhode Island companies to become more competitive in this innovation economy.”

While the council relies on the EDC for administrative support, it is otherwise an independent organization. In its short existence, STAC has promoted a number of successful efforts to encourage innovation.

In 2006, the council recommended the creation of an organization that would maximize state and federal investment in research, enhance research-related development and promote collaboration among businesses, colleges and other institutions. The governor and the General Assembly agreed and approved establishment of the R.I. Research Alliance.

A top job of the alliance is to award grant money – up to $200,000 per award – to projects that promote innovation or scientific research. To qualify, a project must involve two or more institutions working together and be well positioned to receive additional public or private funding. Thus far, the council has approved grants for 16 projects in medicine, engineering, chemistry, biology, oceanography and environmental science.

One much-talked-about example is Toys and Technologies for Rehabilitation, a collaboration involving the toy manufacturer Hasbro Inc., Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design and Rhode Island Hospital. Its goal is the development of toys that provide physical therapy for children with neurological conditions, such as a computer game with a controller that requires the flexing and stretching of muscles, rather than just thumb movements. Eventually, researchers will apply for more funding, from the National Institutes of Health.

Other projects the Research Alliance has supported include:

• Efforts to discover better medicines for breast cancer, heart failure and asthma.

• The development of new marine-based drugs to fight a common and deadly hospital infection.

• A project that explores using virtual reality to improve the design of prosthetic limbs.

• The development of technologies that assist police in obtaining high-quality evidence from low-resolution video.

• The acquisition of shared equipment that enables Rhode Island scientists to better study proteins and their role in disease.

• An effort to better understand and manage green algae blooms in Narragansett Bay.

• The development of better hearing aid technology.

• And, an effort to accelerate the commercialization of novel genome sequencing technology.

Evidence of the grant program’s success came a year ago, when one recipient received $1.4 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue its pioneering testicular cancer research. This one award brought in nearly as much money for one project as the state has invested in the entire program.

The council also convinced the governor and the legislature to launch the Innovation Tax Credit program, with the goal of attracting entrepreneurs to the state and keeping them here. It provides a 50-percent tax credit for investments in small Rhode Island businesses, up to a maximum of $100,000.

To qualify, an investor must put his money into a company with gross revenue of less than $1 million in the prior two years, and one that qualifies as an “innovation industry,” such as biotechnology, information technology, financial services, educational services or product manufacturing and design. The council evaluates each application on how well the project supports entrepreneurship or advances innovation.

To date, 10 companies have qualified: Bionica Corp., Creative Circle, ER Card (winner this year of the Collaborative Innovation award), Isis Biopolymer, Infusion Resources, Lighthouse Security Group, Ocean State Solutions, Providence Health Solutions, Public Display and Tizra Inc.

The council also proposed the creation of a committee to examine how the University of Rhode Island can become more competitive as a research institution. As a result, the governor and the state legislature approved establishment of the URI Commission for Research and Innovation, a nine-member team that includes research scientists, university administrators, hospital administrators, civic leaders and economists.

The URI commission has been at work since September 2007, studying ways the university can produce a larger, better-trained technology work force; increase industry involvement in its research programs and expand its research and development programs. Early next month it will present its findings to the governor and General Assembly.

Business leaders are quick to agree that STAC has been successful in its mission thus far.

“Early-stage investment in burgeoning technology companies plays an extremely important role in new company creation,” said Kipp Bradford, chief technology officer of Bionica Corp., a company that develops powerful, high-tech hearing aids. “It is our intention to leverage the innovation tax credit to attract more local investment in our company, and we see this as an integral part of our business growth strategy.” •