Useful Stats: Higher Education R&D Expenditures by State, FY07-12

Between FY2007-12, research and development (R&D) spending at U.S. universities grew 27.5 percent, from about $51.6 billion to $65.8 billion, according to the latest edition of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey. The survey provides a look at R&D spending at U.S. universities, with data broken down by state, institution, research area and funding sources. California remained the leader in university R&D spending, but spending in the state grew at a slightly lower rate than the national average. Most of the other top 20 states experienced gains that exceeded the national average.

University research spending in Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan and Washington grew at rates far outpacing other major R&D states. Expenditures in Colorado, which ranked 16^th in spending, nearly doubled during the FY2007-12 period. Colorado’s gains were attributable to increased research activity at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins and, in particular, the University of Colorado, Denver, and Anschutz Medical Campus. Expenditures at the medical campus grew by 63 percent over the five-year period in which it emerged as the state’s leading research institution.

In Massachusetts, the gains were more distributed among the state’s many universities, though private institutions drove most of the gains. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) remains the state’s top research institution and posted a 29 percent increase in spending during FY2007-12. Harvard University however, is now close to surpassing MIT’s R&D levels, having increased spending by more than 60 percent. Among public institutions, the University of Massachusetts Medical School leads in both spending and pace of growth.

R&D expenditures in Michigan grew by 39.4 percent, though a change in reporting at the campuses of the University of Michigan system makes sorting out spending levels more difficult. The system combined spending totals for all campuses until FY09, and then began separating them out. Both the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Michigan State University appear to have had a strong five years of growth and represented more than 80 percent of the state’s total R&D spending.

Washington university R&D increased by more than 44 percent during FY2007-12, though changes in University of Washington reporting again make the underlying patterns more difficult to discern. Large gains at Washington State University and the University of Washington appear to have fueled the growth.

SSTI has prepared a table showing higher education R&D expenditure by state for FY2007-12. The table also includes data on each state’s change in funding during that period, its 2012 rank and its share of the 2012 national total. Download in Excel (xlxs) format…

Higher Education R&D Expenditures by State: FY2007-12

Figures in thousands of U.S. dollars

031214.xlsx