Gov. Kay Ivey awards $1 million to state groups to support innovation projects

Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded nearly $1 million to assist Alabama research institutions and industries in producing innovative products and procedures that can help improve the lives of Alabamians.

The grants from the Alabama Research and Development Enhancement Fund provide funds for research at Alabama universities and other institutions. The state-funded program helps create advances involving health and medicine, products and services, agriculture, and other fields of science and technology.

.@GovernorKayIvey awards $1 million to state groups in support of research and innovation projects https://t.co/KHJSRkxDkQ

— ADECA (@ADECA) November 2, 2023

“Alabama is fortunate to have world-caliber research institutions and top-notch scientists who are developing methods and products that will have lasting impacts on lives everywhere,” Gov. Ivey said. “I award these grants with praise for the wide-ranging contributions these institutions are making to advance our quality of life.”

Gov. Ivey was recently in Huntsville at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, one of the grant recipients, for the ribbon cutting of the Discovery Life Sciences headquarters on the HudsonAlpha campus.

The research and development fund was created by the Alabama Legislature in 2019 and signed into law by Gov. Ivey as part of the Alabama Innovation Act. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) Energy Division is administering the research grant program.   

“ADECA is pleased to join with Gov. Ivey in commending these grant recipients and congratulating them on their past and future accomplishments,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said.

Those awarded grants are:

• HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (Huntsville) – $383,268 for a project involving DNA research on trees and how it can assist the Alabama timber industry.
• Southern Research Institute (Birmingham) – $335,712 to conduct research on a method to treat colorectal cancer.
• University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) – $246,060 – to research ways to improve quality control in the production of line-pipe steel. 

ADECA administers a wide range of programs that support law enforcement, victim programs, economic development, water resource management, energy conservation, and recreation.