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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.

U.S. patents continued their rapid pace of growth in 2013, according to statistics from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  USPTO granted 122,593 utility patents last year, a 10 percent increase over the previous year and a 72 percent increase over 2008.

The U.S. remains the global leader in research and development (R&D) spending, but its share of global research is on the decline, according to the National Science Board’s (NSB) Science and Engineering Indicators 2014 report. U.S. R&D expenditures, including government, private and academic spending, reached about $428 billion in 2011 (see our previous Digest article on U.S. R&D spending), representing a 21.4 percent increase over 2006.

Last year, U.S. venture capitalists invested about $10.7 billion in seed and early stage companies, 17.1 percent higher than 2012, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Moneytree survey.  Though the overall venture capital (VC) market has returned to about the same level of activity as before the economic crisis, investment in seed and early stage companies has grown by more than a third.

After hitting an all-time high in 2012, California’s dominance of the nation’s venture capital activity receded a bit last year. California continues to receive about half of the country’s venture investment dollars and about 40 percent of its dealflow, but in 2013, the state’s share of dollars fell from 53 to 50 percent, according to data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association (PwC/NVCA) Moneytree survey. Massachusetts, which has been host to about 10 percent of national venture activity in past years, also saw its share of total U.S.

Powered by strong growth in the Internet and Software sectors, U.S. venture capital activity grew by about 7.5 percent in 2013, according to new data from the NVCA/PWC Moneytree survey. Both venture dollars and deals ticked up last year, bouncing back to 2011 levels after a slow 2012. SSTI has prepared tables of U.S. venture capital investment levels by state in terms of deals and dollars for the 2008-13 period.

Despite a small decline in research investment in 2011, New Mexico continues to have the country’s most research-focused economy, according to the National Science Foundation National Patterns of R&D Resources survey. Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington and California also ranked among the top most R&D intensive economies in 2011. SSTI has prepared tables, based on the NSF data, showing total R&D spending and R&D intensity at the national and state level from 2006-11.

U.S. R&D spending began to rebound in 2011 and 2012 after several years of stagnation, according to new survey data released by the National Science Foundation. During the economic crisis of 2008-10, R&D expenditures froze at just over $400 billion. Newly revised data for 2011 and preliminary data for 2012 indicate that R&D spending began to recover in those years, outpacing U.S. GDP growth. This resurgence, however, has not materialized for all stages of research.

A record number of U.S. students received doctorates in 2012, according to new data from the National Science Foundation. For the first time, the number of doctoral recipients broke 50,000, with a final tally of 51,008. Total doctorates awarded grew by 4.3 percent over the previous year, the largest increase since 2007 and a significant improvement from the previous four years in which the numbers remains fairly steady.

New business creation in the U.S. increased in 2011 for the first time since the 2007-09 economic crisis, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Census data indicates that 8.2 percent of all businesses were less than one year old in 2011, the first increase since 2006 and the largest increase in a decade. A pair of briefs from the Census Bureau and the Kauffman Foundation link the decline and rebound of American startups to fluctuations in housing prices during the economic downturn.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has conducted a Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development for fiscal years 2010-12. In total, federal R&D obligations were $144.7 billion in FY10. The top state recipients, in absolute terms, are California ($28.3 billion, representing 19.6% of the national total), Maryland ($17.0 billion, 11.8%), Virginia ($9.3 billion, 6.4%), Massachusetts ($8.9 billion, 6.1%), and Texas ($7.3 billion, 5.0%).

Between FY03-11, the U.S. Department of Treasury's Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFI) Fund supported $26.4 billion in private investment through the New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) program, according to data released by the fund. The CDFI Fund helps economically distressed communities leverage private investment capital by offering investors a federal tax credit.

In 2010, almost one-quarter of every dollar spent on R&D by U.S. businesses was spent in the state of California, according to data from the National Science Foundation. Together, the top seven states for business R&D spending (California, New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois and Michigan) were host to almost 53 percent of private research investment.

After dipping just under 50 percent in 2011, California reclaimed its spot as the site of a majority of U.S. venture capital investment last year, according to the National Venture Capital Association/PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree Survey. About 53 percent of all U.S. venture capital dollars were invested in California companies in 2012, the largest share captured by the state since the annual survey began in 1995.

About 60 percent of U.S. academic R&D spending support research in the life sciences, according to data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Engineering R&D, the second largest target of spending, accounted for 15.7 percent of total academic research expenditures. While California leads the country in total spending in every science and engineering field, the District of Columbia leads in per capita spending in life sciences, physical sciences, psychology and social sciences.

The number of annual U.S. patents of all types increased from 82,586 in 2005 to 121,179 in 2010, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). After falling in 2007 and 2008, and making only minor gains in 2009, patents jumped by 27.5 percent last year. Overall, the number of patents grew 46.7 percent between 2005 and 2010, while patents per capita increased by 40.6 percent. California continues to have the highest number of annual patents in the country, generating about one quarter of all U.S. patents in 2010.

Compiling SBIR Phase I awards and proposal statistics by state for FY10, SSTI finds the 10 states with the most awards in FY10 were California (851), Massachusetts (517), Virginia (250), Colorado (218), New York (212), Maryland (196), Texas (185), Pennsylvania (184), Ohio (179), and Michigan (125). Colorado moved up two positions to fourth place, dropping New York to fifth place while Maryland fell to sixth place from fifth last year. Pennsylvania edged out Ohio to move up one spot into eighth position, pushing Ohio down one spot from last year to ninth place.

U.S. average venture capital deal size rose by 6.7 percent in 2010, after having fallen to its lowest point in a decade in 2009. While California leads in average deal size, Iowa has run a close second over the past five years. Iowa, Minnesota and Nevada are all among the middle ranks of states in terms of overall venture activity, but rank near the top in average deal size. These states depend on larger deals to sustain their competitiveness in capital access. Illinois, Colorado and Pennsylvania all ranked in the top 10 for venture activity in 2010, but have lower than average deal sizes.

Since 2005, the distribution of U.S. venture capital (VC) investment has remained fairly steady, with California companies receiving about half of all venture dollars. California's share of total dollars reached its highest point in 2009, when the state's firms received 50.6 percent of all U.S. investment. While California's share decreased a bit in 2010, VC activity remains highly concentrated in a handful of states. Over the past five years, the top ten states for venture investment have represented about 85 percent of all U.S. venture activity.

U.S. venture capital investment per capita grew almost 19 percent in 2010 over the previous year, reaching $11.16. That increase, however, only represented a partial rebound from the plunging investment levels of 2008 and 2009. Last year's U.S. per capita figure was 28.7 percent lower than 2007 and 7.2 percent lower than 2005. The largest increases in per capita investment over the past five years occurred in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Delaware, Kansas and Iowa.