CEG News Release

December 7, 2017

Media Contact
James Schlett
Director of Research and Communications
518-465-8975 X221
jamess@ceg.org
 
Capital Region Academic R&D Spending Rose 5.4% in FY2016
Region is the Northeast’s 8th Biggest and 6th Most Intense Spender on University Innovation
 
ALBANY, NY – December 7, 2017 – Academic research and development expenditures at Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan statistical area (MSA) higher education institutions increased over the year by more than $28 million, or 5.4 percent. In fiscal 2016, eight local colleges and universities spent a total $562.4 million on R&D, with more than four-fifths of that amount going toward life science and engineering innovation, according to a Center for Economic Growth (CEG) analysis of National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) data.
 
Local researchers and CEG President and CEO Andrew Kennedy are available for media interviews.
 
Metro Area Performance
In fiscal 2016, three institutions – SUNY Polytechnic Institute, University at Albany (UAlbany) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) – each spent more than $100 million on R&D. Driving up the Albany-Schenectady-Troy MSA’s academic spending was R&D in environmental sciences, which was up 69.5 percent to $20.7 million, and engineering, which was up 3.8 percent to $374.4 million. A 760.5 percent, increase in non-science and engineering R&D spending to $22.2 million, largely at UAlbany, also boosted the metro area’s fiscal 2016 expenditures total. Non-science and engineering R&D includes subfields such as business, education, communication and social work. Environmental sciences include geosciences, atmospheric sciences and ocean sciences.
 
At $312.2 million, SUNY Poly was the region’s biggest spender on engineering. That also made SUNY Poly the nation’s fourth biggest engineering R&D spender, trailing only John Hopkins University, Georgia Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. SUNY Poly’s engineering R&D ranking moved up from sixth in fiscal 2015. UAlbany last fiscal year spent $17.1 million in atmospheric science R&D, up from $9.4 million in fiscal 2015. That 82.3 percent increase sent UAlbany’s ranking in this field to 47 from 77.

Read More