Pause in government funding affects UCF program, sparking worries for research-based businesses

ORLANDO, Fla. – When dealing with funding from the government it is not unusual to deal with uncertainty, Carol Ann Logue said.

Logue, the Director of the Business Incubation Program at UCF, helps build and scale companies across Central Florida. This program itself is funded primarily by local city and county governments to help with economic development, she said.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration ordered a pause on federal grants and loans starting Tuesday, News 6 sat down with Logue on how companies in the incubator program will feel this freeze.

“It would have been for me personally a better demonstration of effective government if there had been some front-end analysis and then identify where there’s things that need to be fixed. Rather than, just a sweeping shut it all down for now,” Logue said. “It’s unsettling to me.”

She said that 40% of the nearly 100 companies this program works with depend on federal funding as those are geared towards research and development and may not be consumer-focused.

“There aren’t other sources of funding, really good sources of it, readily available sources of funding for research and development … It is the federal government that is the primary quote, venture capital force,” Logue said.

For example, she said there are companies that are part of the program that are working on cancer diagnostics, treatments, or therapies and they are supported through federal funding.

To add on, she mentioned another business in the incubator is working on an artificial intelligence program that cities could use to help address food deserts. On the other hand, she said businesses that do not rely on federal dollars may see an impact as well.

“Where it might impact them is where they’re beginning to make sales to organizations that depend on federal dollars for aid or for purchasing,” Logue said.

Meanwhile, this organization is not directly affiliated with UCF, so she could not officially share what changes could be coming at the school regarding the freeze in funds. However, she noted that just like the work some of the companies in the incubator do – academic research as well is federally funded.

“Such a large portion of university academic research is federally funded. Very purposely, right. – students are paid from that funding to do that research because they’re working in those laboratories. You know, they’re getting scholarships and federal aid that enables them to even go to university,” Logue said. “I don’t know, and I can even hardly wrap my head around the trickle-down effect of this – even for a few weeks’ time,” She said.

According to federal online data, the university received roughly $192 million in federal funding in the past year – with over half of that from the Department of Education.

News 6 reached out to UCF for a statement on the federal funding freeze, at the time of publication we are awaiting to hear back.