SB 250 INNOVATION FELLOWSHIP ACT

Sen George K Munoz

Actions: [4] SCC/SEC/SFC-SCC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

 Senate Bill 250 (SB 250) enacts the Innovation Fellowship Act and makes an appropriation. 

 Senate Bill 250 (SB 250) creates the Innovation Fellowship Act. Fellow means a person selected to receive a fellowship.  A fellow is an enrolled graduate student or postdoctoral (postdoc) student at a qualifying university who has filed a patent application and has signed a binding agreement that if awarded a fellowship that is successfully commercialized either establishes a commercial enterprise in the state or if the patent is sold, repays the amount of awarded fellowship. Qualifying universities are University of New Mexico (UNM), UNM Health Sciences Center, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, or Navajo Technical University. 

The maximum number of fellowships awarded in a fiscal year is 10 and three at any one qualifying institution. Fellowship award amounts include all tuition and fees, a $20,000 stipend, and a travel reimbursement up to $5,000 to promote commercialization of patent. If a fellow is employed as a postdoc, the institution will be reimbursed for one-half of the annual salary to ensure one-half of the fellow’s time is dedicated to commercialization of the patent. An additional award up to $50,000 may be given to further develop the patent and initiate a commercial enterprise. 

The Higher Education Department (HED) will establish a selection committee to implement the provisions of the Act. HED will provide administrative support. The seven members of the committee will be the HED secretary or designee as chair, secretary of Economic Development, and Vice Presidents of Research at the qualifying institutions. The selection committee will choose fellows and award supplemental funding. 

SB 250 creates the Innovation Fellowship Fund administered by HED to implement the Act. The selection committee will award the qualifying universities $50,000 per year to offer entrepreneurship education programs to students. The selection committee must submit an annual report to relevant legislative committees.

SB 250 appropriates $5 million from the General Fund to the fund. 

The effective date of SB 250 is July 1, 2024.