Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm announced Wednesday that 61 awardees were selected by the Michigan Strategic Economic Investment and Commercialization (SEIC) Board to share more than $100 million from the first round of the 21st Century Jobs Fund initiative to create jobs in Michigan’s emerging technologies, as part of the Jobs Today, Jobs Tomorrow economic plan.
The 21st Century Jobs Fund is a $2 billion, ten-year initiative that was proposed by Granholm, approved by the Michigan Legislature and administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corp (MEDC) for diversification of the economy. About $800 million is designated for new technologies in the life sciences, alternative energy, advanced automotive materials and manufacturing, and homeland security/defense sectors.
“Our goal was to select companies that are best positioned to help diversify Michigan’s economy,” said Dr. David Canter, chair of the SEIC and head of Pfizer research operations in Ann Arbor. “The companies we chose to invest in have undergone intense interviews and scrutiny and represent the best-of-the-best proposals we received.”
An independent peer-review process by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) went through 505 proposals and picked 179 finalists. Those finalists then went through individual interviews with AAAS experts who made final recommendations to the SEIC board.
The awards will be administered by the MEDC with contracts establishing conditions and mileposts for receipt of funds. Those contracts will be tailored for each proposal.A full list of awardees is available at www.michigan.org/21stcentury.