On Wednesday, the first day of the Iowa Board of Regents meeting for September, nearly $2 million in state allocations was given to Iowa State to help faculty incorporate their ideas into the marketplace.

Iowa State received $1.925 million of a $5 million appropriation to the Regent institutions from the Grow Iowa Values Fund, to be used for economic development projects.

The projects to be funded include commercialization of faculty projects, infrastructure improvements and funding for other short-term projects.

Steve Carter, director for the ISU Research Park and Pappajohn Entrepreneurship, said the allocation would primarily help faculty commercialize research projects.

“We will continue to identify new projects for technology transfer at Iowa State,” he said. “We want to help faculty in moving their ideas to the marketplace.”

Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, said the funding will help companies in the ISU Research Park produce prototypes of new technologies.

Tom Bedell, regent from Spirit Lake, said although the Regent universities’ first mission is educating students, more needs to be done to economically promote faculty projects.

“The core university business isn’t economic development; it is education and innovation,” he said. “We need to bring the economic engines and clever folks together.”

A $600,000 allocation for infrastructure improvements at Iowa State will be made to the ISU Research Park, the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, the Institute for Physical Research and Technology, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

The infrastructure allocation will primarily go toward hiring additional staff to assist with companies and new ideas, Madden said.

Teresa Wahlert, regent from West Des Moines, said the progress of the allocated funds would require later evaluation and the universities would need to be held accountable for the funds to report back to the state legislators.

In addition to the new allocation, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said the Regent institutions are working together to market new technologies in the future.

“The Regents universities are working together to create what will be a ‘Technology Road Show’ that will take research discoveries on the road throughout Iowa,” Geoffroy said.

The project would license new technology and build new companies around it, Geoffroy said. An organized plan for the Technology Road Show would be developed by the end of the year, he said.

“So much technology is developed at all three universities, particularly Iowa State,” Geoffroy said. “The challenge is to match up inventions with individuals interested in licensing.”

The road show would promote new technology throughout Iowa, Madden said.

“It will expose more business in Iowa to new technologies being developed,” he said. “We will go to them rather than have them come to us.”

The University of Iowa also received $1.925 million from the state appropriation and the University of Northern Iowa received $950,000 for economic development projects. The Regent’s Economic Development Committee decided to allocate the remaining $200,000 at a later meeting.