RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT
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Why is this important?
Federal R&D investment in Long Island’s universities, labs and private sector helps to drive regional innovation. Federal R&D dollars support the development of technologies that create economic benefits for the regions in which they are developed and for the nation as a whole. According to RAND, “Specific federal R&D activities are often deeply rooted in the communities in which they are conducted. Such activities attract new businesses to these areas, thereby stimulating local economies and improving the quality of local schools. High-technology start-up companies often co-locate with Federal laboratories and major federally-funded R&D activities at universities.”
How are we doing?
In 2006, Long Island received $582 million in R&D funding from various agencies of the federal government. That represents a 41% increase in funding from 2005. Prior to 2006, funding had been declining relatively steadily from 1997 both as a dollar amount and as a percent of the federal R&D funding that goes to Long Island.
Between 1997 and 2006, Long Island averaged 19.25% of all federal dollars allocated to New York State recipients. In 2006, Long Island firms accounted for about 26% of federal R&D funds going to New York State.
The Department of Energy is by far the largest provider of R&D funds to Long Island ($257 million in 2006), followed by the Department of Defense ($220 million) and the Department of Health and Human Services ($80 million).
In addition, New York State provides funds to firms through the NYSTAR program of the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovative Leadership. In 2005-06, Long Island firms received almost $5 million in NYSTAR funding. That represents about 9% of the total awards for that period. Since 2000, Long Island firms have received an average of 9.75% of the total award amounts offered by the NYSTAR program.