U.S. Universities Spending More on Research and Development

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U.S. universities are spending more and more on R&D these days. In 2015 alone, colleges and universities spent a combined $68.8 billion on research and development with the top 20 colleges accounting for 30% of that.

To discover the universities spending the most in research and development, 24/7 Wall St. assessed R&D expenditure by university for the 2015 fiscal year with data from the National Science Foundation. Of the 1,871 major colleges and universities reviewed, 10 schools spent more than $1 billion on R&D.

Top 10 Universities for R&D Expenditure

  1. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
    • Annual R&D spend: $2.31 billion
  2. University of Michigan
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.37 billion
  3. University of Washington
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.18 billion
  4. University of California, San Francisco
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.13 billion
  5. University of California, San Diego
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.10 billion
  6. University of Wisconsin – Madison
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.07 billion
  7. Duke University in Raleigh, North Carolina
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.04 billion
  8. Stanford University in Stanford, California
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.02 billion
  9. University of California, Los Angeles
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.02 billion
  10. Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
    • Annual R&D spend: $1.01 billion

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If your company is conducting R&D through a local university or college, you may be eligible for a higher R&D tax credit rate. Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to find out more information.

How Does Your State Rank on the Innovation Scale?

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Innovation Is Key

Innovation is crucial to sustainable economic growth, but for innovation to occur businesses must have both the incentive and the capacity to invest.

As innovation is key to the United States’ economy as a whole, many U.S. states are showing off while others are falling short when it comes to patents, R&D, venture capital and academics.

So which states are excelling in innovation and which ones are lacking, you ask?

Patents

The top states in patents per population include:

  1. Wisconsin
  2. Washington
  3. Texas
  4. Utah
  5. California
  6. Massachusetts

The bottom five patented states include:

  1. Alaska
  2. Mississippi
  3. Tennessee
  4. West Virginia
  5. Wyoming

Venture Capital

The top states for venture capital are:

  1. Massachusetts
  2. California
  3. Utah
  4. Washington
  5. Colorado

The lowest are:

  1. Arkansas
  2. Alaska
  3. Hawaii
  4. Wyoming
  5. Iowa
  6. South Dakota

R&D Spending

The leaders in R&D spending are:

  1. Delaware
  2. Michigan
  3. California
  4. Connecticut
  5. Massachusetts

The states that spent the least on R&D include:

  1. Arkansas
  2. Wyoming
  3. Louisiana
  4. Alaska
  5. Mississippi

Academics

As for academics, the top states include:

  1. New Mexico
  2. Maryland
  3. Rhode Island
  4. Massachusetts
  5. Alabama

The lowest academic rankings were for:

  1. Louisiana
  2. Arkansas
  3. Delaware
  4. Wyoming
  5. Nevada

If you are a U.S. based company conducting R&D you may be eligible for the federal and/or state research tax credit. Please contact a Swanson Reed representative to find out further information.