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Do you favor a bond issue of $25,000,000 to provide funds, to be awarded through a competitive process and to leverage matching private and federal funds on at least a one-to-one basis, for research and development and commercialization for Maine-based public and private institutions in support of technological innovation in the targeted sectors of life sciences and biomedical technology, environmental and renewable energy technology, information technology, advanced technologies for forestry and agriculture, aquaculture and marine technology, composites and advanced materials and precision manufacturing?
That’s a really long question with a fairly simple goal: continuing a state investment in innovation that has created jobs and helped to grow Maine’s economy.
Question 2 asks voters to approve $25 million in borrowing to replenish a competitive grant funding program run by the Maine Technology Institute. The money, like the funds from a $45 million bond that was strongly supported by Maine voters in 2017, would be awarded to projects in six target areas that are centered on long-standing industries in Maine: forestry and agriculture; aquaculture and marine technology; environmental and renewable energy; biomedicine and life sciences; composites and advanced materials and precision manufacturing; and information technology.
The money will go to private and public companies, not university research centers.
The $45 million approved by voters in 2017 funded 18 projects, which brought in an additional $193 million from the private sector. That funding was expected to create more than 5,300 jobs and add more than $1.4 billion in economic impact over three years, according to the 2023 MTI annual report.
The largest recipient of this funding was The Jackson Laboratory, which received more than $12 million to help support the construction of a mouse production facility, which is now operational in Ellsworth. With the new facility, the laboratory increased its workforce and compensation, and its annual revenue grew by more than a third. It also purchased more goods and services from Maine-based vendors and suppliers after the bond funding. In 2022, according to legislative testimony, the laboratory spent $60 million with almost 600 Maine-based vendors from 116 towns — including wood pellets from Athens, insurance coverage from Bangor, and boiler mechanics from Lincoln.
Another MTI grant recipient, Pleasant River Lumber, received more than $4 million to upgrade and expand mills in Dover-Foxcroft and Jackman, significantly increasing the number of people it employs and increasing demand for Maine-grown wood.
Ready Seafood, a lobster processing company based in Saco, received more than $2.2 million from the 2017 R&D bond, plus $400,000 from a marine economy bond. It used that funding to build a new plant and buy and install a new processing machine that greatly extended the shelf life of fresh lobster caught in Maine.
“Those two investments were the spark that ignited a wave of innovation at Ready Seafood that have allowed us to become the largest lobster company in the world,” Curt Brown, a marine biologist with the company said on a recent Maine State Chamber of Commerce podcast. Not only does the company now employ far more people, contributing more money to the state economy, it buys more lobster from Maine lobstermen, which also has an economic benefit.
“We never would have been able to grow the way we’ve been able to without those investments, without that support from the state,” Brown added. The current bond, if approved by voters, could give a big boost to other companies that are on the cusp of innovations and growth, he said.
Despite these and other successful projects, Maine still lags other states in its support of research and development. Last year, Maine ranked 44th in the country for its R&D funding. This lack of financial support for R&D has long earned the state a red flag from the Maine Development Foundation. Despite R&D being a priority in the state’s 10-year economic development strategy, its investment in research and development has grown only slightly.
This bond will not, on its own, put Maine on a course to meet the plan’s goals. But it would be an important investment in core sectors of the state’s economy that will create new jobs and bring innovation and new private sector investment to Maine.
To continue to grow the state’s economy and its heritage industries, we recommend a yes vote on Question 2.