The board of directors of the Slater Board voted unanimously to merge the four existing Slater Centers – for biomedical technology, design and manufacturing, interactive technologies and environmental technologies – and the executive arm into a single organization, the “Slater Technology Fund Inc.”

In addition to streamlining operations, the move could save the fund 15 percent of the General Assembly’s annual allocation by reducing operating costs.

“There’s more money to invest in companies, there’s a better process and it gives the fund a platform to try” and attain private funding, [RIEDC executive director Michael] McMahon said.

The Slater Fund, created in 1997 as an annual legislative grant, has since then used $11.3 million for 90 entrepreneurial ventures.