The R.I. Wireless Innovation Networks [(RI-WINS)] project is one of two signature initiatives to build Rhode Island’s science and technology sector that were not funded in the fiscal 2008 budget approved by state lawmakers last week, amid the tightest budget crunch in memory.

The budget – approved by the House on June 15 and the Senate on June 19, and approved again over the governor’s veto on June 21 – also did not earmark $600,000 for the creation of the IT and Digital Media Center that economic development officials wanted to build in the American Locomotive Works [(ALCO)] complex.

The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) asked for $28 million to build the RI-WINS network; they will now look into a higher level of private investment and other alternatives. The RI Economic Development Corporation will also still pursue both initiatives, albeit in modified forms: with a one-year option on the ALCO space, the EDC may build a smaller incubator program there or launch virtually.

The General Assembly did not completely pull the rug out from under the governor’s ongoing work to grow the state’s technology industry. It renewed the $100,000 operating budgets of both BIF and the R.I. Science and Technology Advisory Council, which were created in 2004 and 2005, respectively, to help turn Rhode Island into a regional hub for the life sciences, information technology and other research-based industries.

Lawmakers also renewed their $1.5 million investment in STAC’s Research Alliance grants, which fund collaborative projects of disparate players in the state’s research and development community.