2012 Revised Code of Washington
Title 43 - STATE GOVERNMENT — EXECUTIVE
43.333 Innovate Washington.
43.333.010 Innovate Washington -- Created -- Mission -- Transfer of administrative responsibilities for facilities located at the Washington technology center and Spokane intercollegiate research and technology institute -- Five-year business plan requirements.

RCW 43.333.010 Innovate Washington — Created — Mission — Transfer of administrative responsibilities for facilities located at the Washington technology center and Spokane intercollegiate research and technology institute — Five-year business plan requirements.

(1) Innovate Washington is hereby created as a state agency exercising public and essential governmental functions. Innovate Washington is created as the successor to the Washington technology center and the Spokane intercollegiate research and technology institute. Innovate Washington is created to be a collaborative effort between the state's public and private institutions of higher education, private industry, and government and is to be the primary agency focused on growing the innovation-based economic sectors of the state and responding to the technology transfer needs of existing businesses in the state.

     (2) The mission of innovate Washington is to make Washington the best place to develop, build, and deploy innovative products, services, and solutions to serve the world. To carry out this mission, innovate Washington is to: Develop and strengthen academic-industry relationships through research and assistance that is primarily of interest to existing small and medium-sized Washington-based companies; facilitate company growth through early stage financing; and leverage state investments in sector-focused, innovation-based economic development initiatives consistent with the state's economic development strategic plan and export strategy. As funds are available, innovate Washington shall:

     (a) Facilitate leading edge collaborative research and technology transfer opportunities to existing state businesses directly and by working with industry associations and innovation partnership zones;

     (b) Coordinate its activities with the commercialization and technology transfer activities of the state's research institutions to facilitate research that supports and develops state industries;

     (c) Provide methods, systems, and venues for effective interaction and collaboration between the state's technology-based industries and its institutions of higher education;

     (d) Provide assistance and support to businesses in:

     (i) Securing federal and private funds to support product research and commercialization;

     (ii) Developing and integrating technology in new or enhanced products and services; and

     (iii) Launching those products and services in sustainable businesses in the state;

     (e) Establish programmatic activities that, through partnerships with the private sector, increase the competitiveness of state industries. This may include support provided to firms in innovation partnership zones established under RCW 43.330.270;

     (f) Provide opportunities for training undergraduate and graduate students in technology transfer and commercialization processes through direct involvement in research and industry interactions;

     (g) Work with regional public and private utilities, district energy providers, the utilities and transportation commission, and the state energy office to improve the alignment of investments in clean energy technologies with existing state policies. This may include facilitating public-private partnerships to encourage research and development of emerging clean and renewable energy technologies;

     (h) Serve as the lead entity in the state for coordinating clean energy-related initiatives and establishing a long-term funding strategy for programs targeted at expanding the clean energy sector, while maintaining existing energy policy and regulatory functions at the department of commerce within the state energy office;

     (i) Administer technology and innovation grant and loan programs including bridge funding programs for the state's technology sector;

     (j) Emphasize and develop nonstate support of program activities; and

     (k) Facilitate public-private partnerships that support the growth of strategic, innovation-based sectors.

     (3)(a) Administrative responsibilities for the Washington technology center facilities located on the University of Washington Seattle campus and the Spokane intercollegiate research and technology institute facilities located on the Riverpoint campus operated by Washington State University Spokane are hereby transferred to innovate Washington except to the extent that such responsibilities are the subject of an interagency agreement between the University of Washington and the Washington technology center, in which case the terms of that agreement control. The facilities shall be used for purposes consistent with the obligations of innovate Washington under this chapter. As initially established, the University of Washington and Washington State University shall continue to provide the facility support and maintenance for these facilities as required by innovate Washington, except to the extent that such responsibilities are the subject of an interagency agreement between the University of Washington and the Washington technology center, in which case the terms of that agreement control. Other institutions of higher education may provide facility support and maintenance subsequently.

     (b) The University of Washington, Washington State University, and other institutions of higher education participating in innovate Washington programs shall provide the affiliated staff and faculty participating in these programs at their own expense.

     (4) The facilities of innovate Washington may be made available to any research institution or any public institution of higher education within the state when this would benefit specific program needs consistent with this chapter.

     (5) Innovate Washington shall, by December 1, 2012, develop a five-year business plan that must be updated by December 1st of every even-numbered year and submitted to the appropriate committees of the legislature. The plan must include:

     (a) A plan for operating additional facilities in Vancouver, the Tri-Cities, Bellingham, and such other locations as the innovate Washington board identifies as appropriate;

     (b) Identification and specification of activities to be undertaken by those operating each of innovate Washington's facilities to include potential collaboration with innovative programs at the state's community and technical colleges and methods of working with the centers of excellence established under RCW 28B.50.902 to identify businesses that could benefit from innovate Washington services;

     (c) The process to be followed, developed in collaboration with impact Washington or any successor manufacturing extension partnership program operating in the state, to ensure that impact Washington clients have ready access to innovate Washington's services when appropriate and that companies being assisted by innovate Washington have ready access to impact Washington's services; and

     (d) Mechanisms for outreach to firms operating in the state's innovation partnership zones established under RCW 43.330.270 to ensure such firms benefit from innovate Washington services.

     (6) The five-year business plan required under this section must include a clean energy component that includes:

     (a) A strategy for implementation of the first three market-driving initiatives identified by the clean energy leadership council in its 2010 report. These market-driving initiatives are in the areas of:

     (i) Combined energy efficiency, green buildings, and smart grid;

     (ii) Renewable energy resource optimization and smart grid deployment; and

     (iii) Bioenergy deployment acceleration.

     (b) Recommendations on ways to improve policy alignment, streamline regulatory requirements, and remove administrative barriers that limit the growth of the clean energy sector in Washington.

     (7) For the purposes of this section, "lead entity" means the organization that all other state agencies must coordinate with and receive approval from in order to award state funds in support of clean energy initiatives.

[2011 1st sp.s. c 14 § 1.]