"There's some investment that has to give us a launch ramp to let us do this. We can only do this if we can bring in the right teams and have a place to put them," Brittain said.

Without the funding, Young said, the U. will still plow along with available research money to start spin-off companies and bring in grant money. The USTAR initiative, however, could accelerate that mission and put Utah on par with at least 32 other states that have invested a combined $29.5 billion toward research initiatives.

The extra boost in research dollars could also go a long way toward bringing up the state's average wage, Young said, which have sunk relative to the national average by more than 20 percent since 1981.

The initiative also has a statewide reach, noted Natalie Gochnour of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. The legislation calls for innovation centers to be set up around the state to spur economic growth.

"There are people in Vernal and southeast Utah that can take this research and commercialize it, " she said. "It's a recognition that knowledge jobs and jobs in information are the future."

Setting up all those labs is costly, Brittain said, and could be a sticking point for some legislators not willing to see large sums of money going toward bricks and mortar. A neuroscience center at the U. and a bio innovations institute at USU will cost $160 million to build, and that's with land donated by the universities.

But Brittain said the actual buildings are not the costly aspect, but rather the high-tech design of air conditioning and gas pipelines within the buildings to accommodate high heat levels of delicate research.

"These guys are very fussy. They're not willing to do the research in a double-wide trailer," Young said.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com