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Frontiers
Six States Account for Half of Nation's R&D
July/August 1998
In 1995, the United States spent $183 billion
dollars on research and development (R&D), according to a recent report
by the Division of Science Resource Studies (SRS). Of that total amount,
$177 billion can be attributed to individual states. Based on analysis
of the data, SRS has identified the states that expended the most R&D
dollars, and the sources and performers of the funds.
The most prominent finding is that the distribution of R&D expenditures
was substantially concentrated in only six states. California is the clear
leader, accounting for over $36 billion, or one-fifth of the total. The
other five states, in descending order, were Michigan, New York, Massachusetts,
New Jersey and Texas. Taken together, the six states account for approximately
one-half of the $177 billion state-specific total.
The SRS report also
shows expenditures by type of performer--industry, federal government,
academia, federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs),
and other nonprofit organizations. Findings revealed, not surprisingly,
that those states appearing on the list of total R&D leaders generally
also appeared on the lists for top industrial and academic R&D.
According to the study, expenditure levels of individual states are often
closely related to economic size of the states. R&D expenditures can
be examined as a proportion of the Gross State Product (GSP), a measure
of the total economic activity occurring within the state. This proportion
is referred to as each state's R&D "intensity." In 1995, New Mexico
had the highest R&D intensity at 8.1%. The United States' total R&D
intensity is 2.5%.
Additional breakdowns show that the Department of Defense (DoD) and the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) together provided 68% of
total Federal support for FY 995 R&D. California and Maryland were
the two largest recipients of Federal R&D funds. Performers in California,
primarily industrial firms, received 21% of DoD's R&D support. Maryland
received 20% of total HHS funding largely from the National Institutes
of Health.
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