Iowa State will soon be one of the world’s leaders in biorenewable technology.

Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge and Elizabeth Hoffman, executive vice president and provost, delivered details on a collaboration between Iowa State and the state of Iowa in plans for Iowa State to become an industry leader in biorenewable research during a news conference Thursday in the Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium at Howe Hall.

Pending the approval of the Board of Regents, Iowa State will be adding the Biorenewables Research Laboratory to its already strong background of science and technology.

Hoffman introduced Judge and a project she called “an important part of ISU’s emergence as a leading university in the research and development of biorenewable resources.”

“Without the partnership with our state, we would not be where we are today,” Hoffman said. “The $42 million commitment is an extremely, extremely important part of making us a world leader in biorenewable technology.”

Judge, the former Iowa secretary of agriculture, made it clear when she took the stage that she and Gov. Chet Culver are fully committed to establishing Iowa State as a prominent figure in biorenewable technology – not just in the state or the nation, but in the world as well.

“Biofuels have already transformed this state, and ethanol and biodiesel have already created or impacted more than 53,000 jobs today,” Judge said. “We have to continue to forge ahead and continue where we are at the top.”

During what Judge referred to as “budget week” in Des Moines, Culver’s budget will allocate an additional $14.5 million to assure the biorenewable project be completed as scheduled.

“The governor and I have made continuous commitments to the Iowa Power Fund and the biorenewables building in a year, my friends, where the budgets are very tight,” Judge said. “We understand how important this industry is to Iowa, and we know that the investments we make here on this campus will mean tens of thousands of jobs for Iowans in the future.”

The $100 million Iowa Power Fund has been established to help businesses expand into renewable organizations with an emphasis on clean technology.

Robert Brown, director of the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technology at Iowa State, said the biorenewable additions to Iowa State will help bring talented individuals together to achieve a common goal.

“Our mission is no less than to radically reduce the dependency on foreign petroleum,” Brown said. “This is an ambitious goal that we realize isn’t going to be accomplished by a handful of researchers working individually, regardless of their individual talents.”

After addressing the audience, Judge said her position with the state allows for an intimate relationship with the state’s universities and their potential.

“There are great opportunities here [at Iowa State],” Judge said. “I think the future looks really, really bright and I’m really glad that I’m in a place where I can make that happen. The strengths that this university brings is the sciences – the agriculture – and tying agriculture and science together, but it’s also a nation leader in agricultural science. I think that will continue, and that will be the place that this university will shine in the future.”

The Biorenewables Research Laboratory is planned to be built on the practice field south of the Design Building.