Measuring the Impact of Federal R&D (Finally)

The vast majority of basic research performed in this country is funded by the federal government, so odds are most innovations also stem from our federal research investments, right? The generalization may seem logical but it could never be proven. Let alone following research through to any resulting technologies, it is currently impossible even to tell the number of jobs resulting from federal research investments–supporting people in positions ranging from top of the field faculty researchers to research assistants, lab technicians, and administrative/custodial support staff.

Apart from anecdotes of individual success stories and single-program assessments, it is difficult to develop a reliable sense for impact federal R&D investment has on the economy. That finally may be changing as a result of a new multi-agency initiative lead by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, that promises to monitor the impact of federal science investments on employment, knowledge generation, and health outcomes.

STAR Metrics - thankfully reduced from Science and Technology for America's Reinvestment: Measuring the Effect of Research on Innovation, Competitiveness and Science - will receive $1 million each from NSF and NIH this year to expand a successful pilot project with seven research institutions to involve more universities that receive federal research funding. More than 60 have volunteered to join the project already.

The seven universities that participated in the original pilot project are: the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Delaware, George Mason University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Alabama, and the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

There are two phases to STAR Metrics. The first, drawing on information gathered from the universities in a highly automated way, with minimal or no burden for the scientists and the university administration, calculates the employment impact of federal science spending through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and agencies' existing budgets.

Second Phase activities measure the impact of science investment in four key areas:

• Economic growth— measured through indicators such as patents and business start-ups.
• Workforce outcomes— measured by student mobility into the workforce and employment markers.
• Scientific knowledge— measured through publications and citations.
• Social outcomes— measured by long-term health and environmental impact of funding.

Three sets of products are envisioned that will help universities, principal investigators, federal agencies, and other stakeholders in the research (such as state TBED programs providing matching dollars to a project). The products include:

• Standardized measures of the impact of science investments on job creation and retention.
• Systematized, standardized and validated ongoing measurement of long-term impact of science investments: economic, scientific, social.
• Enabling a community of researchers in science of science policy.

More information, including templates of the three sets of products for discussion and comment, is available through the Federal Demonstration Partnership: http://nrc59.nas.edu/star_info2.cfm.