INDUSTRY

A California state research and innovation initiative would be created this year if the legislature approves the $95 million of the state budget Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed for the project. The budget, which will be made public in January, would provide funding for the Helios Project, the Energy Biosciences Institute, the California Institutes for Science and Innovation and the Petascale Supercomputer. The proposed Governor's Research and Innovation Initiative would provide funding for four projects conducting cleantech, biotech and nanotech research. All of the selected projects are associated with the University of California. - Helios Project -- an initiative at the UC Berkeley national Laboratory to create sustainable energy. The budget would provide $30 million to build a new energy/nanotechnology research building. - Energy Biosciences Institute -- $40 million would go to UC Berkeley or UC San Diego, if either wins a British Petroleum Energy Biosciences Institute grant. The schools are two of five finalists for the $500 million BP grant. - California Institutes for Science and Innovation -- A partnership between the University of California and private businesses that work to sustain the state's growth in information technology, biomedical research and nanotechnology. - Petascale Supercomputer -- The University of California wants to build a $200 million Petascale computer. The budget would include $5 million for what would be the most powerful computer in the world.