Innovation
University Research and Development
Description: This indicator measures the investment of the state’s public universities in significant research activity. Academic research and development (R&D) expenditures are reported to the National Science Foundation through its annual Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges. Universities and colleges are asked to report their separately budgeted R&D expenditures within science and engineering fields.
Research and development expenditures for fiscal years since 1996 for each of the three state universities are presented on the dashboard. The Arizona figure for each year is the sum of the three state universities; it does not include the small amount of expenditures at other institutions that have occurred in some years. The data are inflation adjusted using the gross domestic product (GDP) implicit price deflator. The inflation-adjusted dollars are expressed in terms of the latest year of data available.
Rationale: A central theme of the economic literature on economic growth is the importance of R&D investments. Economic analysis suggests that R&D investment is crucial for attaining increases in labor productivity that ultimately translate into improvements in prosperity. R&D investment is at the center of an innovation strategy and this indicator measures the extent to which state universities are engaged in research.
Data Sources: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Academic Research and Development Expenditures Series http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/showpub.cfm?TopID=8&SubID=1. The data are in Table 27. The GDP implicit price deflator is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/SelectTable.asp?Selected=Y (Table 1.1.9).
Comments on the Quality of the Data: Universities frequently revise data for prior years. Not all universities and colleges respond to the survey.
