Useful Stats: Federal Obligations for R&D to Industry by State, 2001-2005

The NSF's Federal Funds for Research and Development series illustrates trends in the U.S. government's funding obligations for science and engineering R&D. Federal funding is distributed to government agencies, academic institutions, research centers, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, as well as private companies.

SSTI has prepared a table presenting federal R&D obligations to industry in each state for the five fiscal-year period of 2001 to 2005. In FY05, $44.03 billion, or 41.2 percent of total federal R&D obligations, went to industry.

The FY05 figure for industry represents a 63.7 percent increase from FY 2001. From year to year, many states' figures vary sharply, making trends across years harder to characterize and potentially misleading. Consequently, the SSTI table includes only the percentage of each state's total federal R&D obligations that went to industry in 2005 and the state's relative rank.

The states with the largest obligations to industry in 2005 were California with $9.54 billion, Virginia ($4.37 billion), Missouri ($3.34 billion), Texas ($3.28 billion), and Maryland ($2.46 billion). Industry in 14 states received in excess of $1 billion in 2005, while 19 states had less than $100 million going to their industrial research base.

The percentage among the states varies widely as well. For example, Missouri had the highest percentage of its federal obligations go to industry, at 82.6 percent. Other states with high concentrations include West Virginia (77.1 percent), Arizona (71.7 percent), Nevada (67.0 percent), and Texas (64.7 percent).

In FY 2005, North Dakota had the smallest percentage of its federal obligations (3.4 percent) going to industry. North Dakota is joined by Wyoming (6.1 percent), Nebraska (7.9 percent), Arkansas (8.0 percent), and Oregon (9.7 percent). It should be noted that these states were, for the most part, those with the lowest amounts in federal obligations for R&D from the government as well. The lion's share of the federal obligations for R&D in these states went to universities and colleges.

As defined by the NSF, "Obligations are the amounts for orders placed, contracts awarded, services received, and similar transactions during a given period, regardless of when the funds were appropriated and when future payment of money is required."

SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/042909t.htm

The entire Federal Funds for Research and Development series can be accessed at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/fedfunds/