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News Release 14-108

2011 data show U.S. business R&D highly concentrated by state and metropolitan location

Companies in five states paid for nearly half of R&D performed in 2011

U.S. 3-d map and test tubes

Report accounts for R&D performed by companies in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia.


August 26, 2014

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

According to a new National Science Foundation (NSF) report, nearly half of the research and development (R&D) paid for and performed by companies in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia in 2011 was performed in five states: California, Washington, Texas, Massachusetts and Michigan.

Overall, companies performed $239 billion in R&D paid for by their own company expenses in the U.S. in 2011. Large companies performed the largest amount of research and development at their primary R&D locations in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, and Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical areas (CSA). These are groupings of neighboring, geographic metropolitan regions.

R&D industries represented in these areas vary, with San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland dominated by computer and electronic products manufacturers and Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia dominated by information technology and aerospace companies. Although the Los Angeles-Long Beach CSA is home to many large-R&D companies, no single industry accounts for a disproportionately large share of its R&D performance.

The findings come from NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics 2011 Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS). BRDIS allows policymakers and industry officials to gain information about worldwide R&D expenses, R&D expenses by detailed business segments and the location by industry of where the R&D is performed along with other important data.

For more information on this report, please visit NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES).

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Bobbie Mixon, NSF, (703) 292-8485, email: bmixon@nsf.gov

Program Contacts
Raymond M. Wolfe, NSF, (703) 292-7789, email: rwolfe@nsf.gov

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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