DAVE BREITENSTEIN

DBREITENSTEIN@NEWS-PRESS.COM

FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw says he is disappointed, but not discouraged, with a string of setbacks in funding an off-campus research center.

Meanwhile, Southwest Florida lawmakers know the region’s only public university expects them to step up their lobbying efforts as well.

The Florida Senate’s budget included $7.6 million for FGCU’s Emergent Technologies Institute, a university facility within a 241-acre public-private research park near the airport. Money wasn’t in the House’s budget, however, for the Innovation Hub project.

“This is where we were at this time last year,” Bradshaw said Tuesday, referring to only one chamber allocating money initially in 2013. “The process is dynamic and changes day to day, and during the conference, hour to hour.”

Ultimately, both chambers designated $7.6 million last year. Then Gov. Rick Scott vetoed it, the second time a gubernatorial veto killed funding for the project.

Bradshaw said he, trustees and university staff will continue reaching out to local legislators, as well as influential lawmakers who can back the project.

After last year’s veto, Scott cited a lack of evidence documenting a return on the state’s investment and widespread support from the community. Since that point, the university has forwarded 31 letters of support from Southwest Florida’s elected officials, business owners and organizational leaders, as well as an analysis of jobs that will be created through the project.

“It’s our responsibility to articulate it in a way that’s clear and succinct,” Bradshaw said.

The House budget is assembled in pieces, with various committees putting forth dollar amounts, projects and services it wants to fund. The portion related to FGCU’s iHub would arise in the education appropriations subcommittee. State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, serves on that board.

“We left it in her hands to try to accomplish that,” said Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers.

Fitzenhagen said Tuesday that she wholeheartedly supports funding for the iHub given its economic and intangible return on investment.

“During budget conference, I will continue to work diligently to achieve funding commensurate with that the Senate has allocated,” Fitzenhagen said. “Our community must continue to voice support for this important job-creating project as we in the delegation remain resolute in placing it in the budget’s final version.”

Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, said he was unaware that iHub funds were not in the House’s plan.

He saw the budget at the same time as the public.

“I didn’t have access to what was in the proposed budget until it was released,” said Rodrigues, budget manager for FGCU’s college of arts and sciences.

FGCU already has collected $4.9 million for iHub design and planning, but its needs the extra $7.6 million for construction and equipment.

If the House and Senate agree to fund the project, it still must land on the governor’s desk. Even with letters of support and a financial analysis, the governor isn’t quite ready to commit.

“Gov. Scott will continue to work with the House and Senate to ensure that each university in Florida has the resources it needs to provide world-class educations to our students,” said Scott spokesman John Tupps.

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iHub description

FGCU’s 2014 legislative platform uses these words to describe the project:

• “The Renewable Energy Park will be a fully integrated scale-size demonstration site highlighting best practices and the most up-to-date technology associated with energy production, storage and usage.

• “This facility will blend educational opportunities with research programs as a means to partner with various renewable energy industries, utility companies, and local and state governments to develop technologies and provide a trained workforce for the next generation of clean energy production in Florida and the U.S.

• “This unique research asset will be available for cooperative use by all institutions within the State University System (SUS). Combining research and education with public outreach, and a state-of-the art energy park, will make the FGCU Emergent Technologies Institute a magnet and hub for developments in renewable energy throughout the region as well as attracting companies, venture capital, research laboratories and industries from the U.S. and other parts of the world, especially the Caribbean, and Central and South America.”