Olathe ? The Kansas Bioscience Authority will consider up to $29.7 million in new investments in the upcoming fiscal year, according to a plan approved by its executive committee on Wednesday.

The plan includes about $20 million for commercialization projects and $9.7 million for research and development.

David Vranicar, the authority’s interim president and CEO, said that the total available amount for investments fell slightly from last year’s total, when about $36 million was spent on investments.

That’s partially because of caps on state funding for the authority and partially because of the authority’s judgments on the appropriate amount of funding

Vranicar said the authority intends to make the plan available to the public in the coming days.

“There is a lot of activity under way,” he said. “We continue to see a lot of interesting companies and innovations.”

The executive committee made a few cosmetic changes to the wording in the plan before it was released, but made no major changes when it discussed the plan in open session Wednesday.

The authority’s priorities listed in the plan are similar to those in previous years. It hopes to:

• Provide business assistance and strategic investments to help Kansas bioscience companies start up and grow.

• Support Kansas University’s application to achieve National Cancer Institute designation.

• Attract additional eminent and rising-star scholars to the state.

• Continue to support the state’s efforts to secure federal appropriations for the construction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan.

• Increase commercialization of new technology by linking industry and academia in established centers of innovation.