Maine Voters Back R&D Bond

General News

Maine Voters Back R&D Bond

• November 14, 2024

Maine voters on Nov. 5th gave strong support to a $25 million bond for investments in research, development, and commercialization of Maine-based public and private institutions in support of technological innovation. MDI Bio Lab was part of the coalition of non-profit and commercial organizations that worked with the state Chamber of Commerce to support the measure, which will award competetive grants administrated by the Maine Techology Institute, provided they are matched by equal investments from private or federal sources.

The CEOs of MDI Bio Lab and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Hermann Haller, M.D., and Deborah Bronk, Ph.D., weighed in with a joint editorial published days before the election by newspapers of the Maine Trust for Local News, including the flagship Portland Press Herald. The two research institutes are partnering on a growing list of initiatives, including an effort to screen microalgae for anti-inflammatory properties. "As the leaders of two of these world-class organizations… we've seen up close how strategic public investments in our sector create and sustain good-paying jobs for the state - and vital knowledge for the world," they wrote in the Op-Ed.

The bond won with a vote of 54.3% to 45.7%.

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