Useful Stats

Despite the shutdown of many business and government activities during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of SBIR/STTR awards made to innovation-focused companies continued to increase over record-breaking 2019 levels, rising 3.7 percent. This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats examines the total number of SBIR/STTR awards and the top awarding agency by state in 2020.

The total number of SBIR/STTR awards made nationally reached 7,305 in 2020. As seen in the first interactive map below, the states with the greatest total number of SBIR/STTR awards in 2020 were California (1,489), Massachusetts (731), Virginia (452), Texas (380), and Maryland (362). All states captured at least two awards in 2020; the only states seeing less than ten awards were Mississippi (5), Alaska (2), North Dakota (2), and Puerto Rico (2).

Continuing a streak lasting at least 10 years, the federal government was again the top funder of Higher Education R&D (HERD) in 2020. However, new SSTI analysis shows that the federal share of HERD funding has continued to decline nationally and in most states over the 10-year period from 2011 to 2020. This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats provides an analysis of HERD funders by state in 2020, and an examination of 10-year trends for the period from 2011 to 2020 in HERD funding by source. 

Building on previous SSTI analysis showing that Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) expenditures increased across the U.S. despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this edition of Useful Stats examines the distribution of R&D spending among the various fields of research at the nation’s colleges and universities. Specifically, this analysis examines 2020 HERD expenditures by state and field of research, finding that the life sciences continued to dominate academic R&D activity, accounting for 57.5 percent ($49.6 billion) of total HERD spending. Engineering was the second most funded research field in 2020, accounting for 15.9 percent ($13.7 billion) of the national total. The third most funded research field was physical sciences, accounting for 6.6 percent ($5.7 billion) of total U.S. HERD expenditures.

This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats explores Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation’s urban areas and the top industry contributors to GDP in these areas. Specifically, this analysis explores both metropolitan area (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as areas with an urban core of more than 50,000 population) and micropolitan area (defined as areas with an urban core of between 10,000 and 50,000 population) GDP in 2020, as well as the top contributing industry to area GDP.

METROPOLITAN AREAS

As total Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) expenditures increased nationally and in most states from 2019 to 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession, HERD intensity also increased. HERD intensity is an indicator of the relative importance of R&D spending by colleges and universities to regional economies, and is calculated as HERD expenditures as a percentage of total gross domestic product (GDP). This edition of Useful Stats expands on previous SSTI analysis of total HERD expenditures in 2020 (the most recent figures available), specifically examining HERD intensity by state for the five-year period from 2016 to 2020.

While the overall U.S. venture capital market has drawn headlines for record-breaking total investment levels in 2021, the story has been far different for smaller deals. Data currently suggests a decline in deals under $1 million, and only modest growth for deals under $5 million. The final data may tell a slightly different story,[1] but the level of activity at the smaller end of the spectrum is clearly quite different than what is driving market coverage. Of the $335 billion in angel, seed and venture capital deals PitchBook has identified for 2021, more than 10 percent went to deals of $1 billion or more and almost 60 percent to deals worth at least $100 million.

Small investments are important for regional economies to track so that they can understand their pipeline of companies that can fuel innovation and job creation, beyond the handful (in most states) that attract headlines.

This week’s edition of Useful Stats examines the contributions to county-level GDP in 2020 by industry group. Specifically, this analysis identifies the industries that contributed the most to the economic output of each county in 2020, as well as examining the annual percent changes in industry contribution to county GDP over the previous year. Most industries experienced declines brought on by the economic recession of 2020, although some experienced growth. In 2020, the real estate and rental and leasing; professional and business services; government and government enterprises; and manufacturing industry groups were vital economic drivers in terms of both their contributions to national GDP as well as the number of counties where they were the top contributor.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, most states experienced growth in annual Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) expenditures between 2019 and 2020. Given higher education’s role in generating knowledge that catalyzes innovative new technologies developed by high-growth startups, R&D conducted at institutions of higher education is one of the most important metrics for evaluating an area’s innovation economy. This edition of Useful Stats examines data from NSF’s recently updated 2020 HERD survey, specifically examining one- and 10-year changes in HERD spending by state.

National HERD expenditures in 2020 increased by 3.3 percent ($2.8 billion) over 2019, reaching a total of $86.3 billion. The states with the greatest total HERD expenditures in 2020 were California ($10.9 billion), New York ($7.2 billion), Texas ($6.6 billion), Pennsylvania ($4.8 billion), and Maryland ($4.8 billion). The states with the lowest total HERD expenditures in 2020 were Idaho ($170.6 million), Maine ($151.3 million), Puerto Rico ($111.1 million), South Dakota ($110.6 million), and Wyoming ($93.1 million).

This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats begins a series of articles examining recently updated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for 2020, identifying changes in GDP per capita during the first year of the economic impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic, and setting the stage for future articles diving deeper into the impacts of the pandemic on local economies. Specifically, this analysis focuses on the annual percent change from 2019 to 2020 in county-level GDP per capita (calculated as total county GDP divided by total county population) using comprehensive geographical data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and population data from the Census Bureau.

Business research and development (R&D) intensity — private sector R&D expenditures as a percentage of total gross domestic product (GDP) — is an indicator of how interested businesses are in creating new products and processes. This edition of Useful Stats expands upon previous SSTI analyses of business R&D and applies the more standardized measure of “R&D intensity” to provide additional context on the private sector’s activities within states.

An SSTI analysis of business R&D employment data from the National Science Foundation’s recently updated 2019 Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) Survey finds that nationally in 2019, R&D employment at private businesses accounted for 8.6 percent of total employment. The states where the business R&D employment shares of total employment were the greatest in 2019 were Washington (20.9 percent); Massachusetts (19.3 percent); California (17.7 percent); New Hampshire (14.7 percent); and Michigan (12.7 percent). The analysis builds on our previous examination of business R&D expenditures and focuses on R&D employment at private businesses and the level of total business R&D expenditures per R&D employee by state in 2019.

The states where business R&D employment accounted for the lowest shares of total employment in 2019 were Tennessee (2.9 percent); Arkansas (2.7 percent); Mississippi (2.7 percent); Louisiana (2.3 percent); and, Hawaii (2.2 percent).

Private sector investment into research and development (R&D) is a critical component of innovation, new product development, and regional economic vitality. As a substantial performer and funder of R&D in the United States, the strength of private industry’s R&D activity in a region can provide an indication of the region’s capacity for developing and bringing innovative technologies to market. Using data from the recent release of the National Science Foundation’s 2019 Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) Survey, this SSTI analysis shows that while private companies nationally paid for the greatest share of total business R&D expenditures themselves in 2019, this was not the case for all states.