Last year, nearly $1 billion was infused into Arizona’s economy as a result of research at Arizona’s public universities, according to the recently released Arizona Board of Regents 2011 research report. The report details research expenditures as well as the economic, social and scholarly impact that results from research in the Arizona University System, indicating a significant positive impact on the state through new jobs, knowledge and dollars reinvested in the community.
“Research at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona provides a tremendous benefit to our community and the world around us,” said Regent Rick Myers, chair of the Arizona Board of Regents. “Research leads not only to transformational discoveries that directly benefit the people of this state and beyond, but it generates jobs, facilitates partnerships, reinvests dollars into the community, attracts top faculty talent, and makes the undergraduate learning experience more rich through instruction and hands-on learning with elite faculty. Research at our universities is a very complex but extremely successful enterprise and its international reputation is a point of pride for our state.”
Last year, the Board of Regents adopted a series of performance metrics to manage and measure university and system productivity and progress in four key areas, including research excellence. Research metrics measure progress in total research expenditures, number of doctoral degrees awarded, number of invention disclosures transacted, number of patents issued, intellectual property income and national public research university ranking. In fiscal year 2011, the research enterprise met or exceeded the enterprise goals in invention disclosures, U.S. patents issued, intellectual property income, and start-up companies. Research expenditures fell just short of reaching the 2011 goal of $1,009.3 billion by $12.7 million. The universities are implementing measures to ensure the 2012 goal of $1,045.6 billion is met.
Through research activity at the universities, millions of dollars are reinvested annually into the community. In 2011, Arizona’s public universities generated nearly $1 billion in research expenditures, dollars that become purchases and lead to employment within Arizona.
