Useful Stats: Sources of Private R&D Funding by State, 2012

California-based companies performed about $81.7 billion in research and development (R&D) in 2012, according to the latest data available from the National Science Foundation (NSF). That figure represents about 27 percent of all private R&D funding in the U.S. Not all of that funding, however, derived from the companies themselves. The federal government provided about 9.3 percent of the funds for California-based company R&D in 2012. Companies in New Hampshire and Virginia received the highest percentage of total private R&D funds from the federal government, with 47 percent and 44 percent respectively.

Most U.S. R&D is performed and funded by private companies. The academic sector is the second largest performer of R&D, and the federal government is the second largest funder.

NSF reports that U.S. private companies performed about $302.3 billion in R&D in 2012, up from $294 billion in 2011. About 81.8 percent of this R&D was funded by the companies themselves, while another 10.1 percent was funded by the federal government. Nonfederal sources outside the companies contributed the remaining funds. NSF’s Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS) does not ask respondents to provide any more detail on nonfederal sources of external funding, but these may include state governments and institutional collaborations.

California-based companies lead the nation in R&D funding and performance by a large margin. Massachusetts ranks second in private R&D performance with $17.5 billion, compared to California’s $81.7 billion. The other six states performing more than $10 billion in R&D include (in order): New Jersey, Texas, Michigan, Washington, Illinois and New York.

While Virginia and New Hampshire companies receive the highest share of support from federal agencies, Washington and Oregon companies appear to fund nearly all of their R&D on their own. Oregon companies fund 94.5 percent of the research they perform, while Washington companies perform 94.4 percent. Pennsylvania and Nebraska run close behind.

In Kansas, about 27.9 percent of private R&D is funded by sources outside the companies themselves and the federal government. Idaho, the District of Columbia, Hawaii and Alaska all receive about one-fifth of their funding from nonfederal sources.

Access the NSF data at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2016/nsf16301/#chp2

SSTI has prepared a table showing the sources of private R&D funding by state for 2012, using the NSF data. Download the table in Excel format at: http://ssti.org/sites/default/files/PrivateRD.xlsx.

PrivateRD.xlsx