Useful Stats:
2003 Industry Share of Academic R&D

If one of the keys to competing in a flat or flattening world is better integration of universities into the economic system, then one of the best ways to measure success is to examine industry's share of academic R&D expenditures. Based on the National Science Foundation's Academic Research and Development Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2003 (detailed tables available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf05320/htmstart.htm), SSTI has prepared a table showing industry's share of total academic R&D expenditures in 2003.

States with the greatest percentage of academic R&D coming from industry in 2003 in rank order are: Alaska, North Carolina, Nebraska, Virginia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Indiana, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. States with the smallest percentage of academic R&D coming from industry in 2003 are (starting with the smallest percentage and going up): South Dakota, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Utah, Oregon, Kansas, Alabama, and Delaware.

The stats provoke a number of questions that policymakers and researchers should explore in more depth. For example: while EPSCoR states dominate the lower tier of industry percentage of academic R&D, ten EPSCoR states rank in the top half; are those ten states doing something different to encourage industry funding of academic R&D? what are the long-term trends in individual states in industry percentage of academic R&D and if there are changes are they as a result of policy, personnel, or research quality? (For data from 2000-2002, see SSTI's table at http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/083004t.htm)

SSTI's table showing industry's share of academic R&D expenditures can be found at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/091905t.htm