Business-Performed R&D as a Percentage of Private-Industry Output (Percent)

This indicator represents the role of R&D in a state's business activity. The business sector is the largest performer of U.S. R&D. The overwhelming majority of business R&D performance is self-funded. A high value for this indicator indicates that the businesses within a state are making a large investment in their R&D activities in that state. Values for this indicator vary greatly across the nation, and business-performed R&D is often concentrated in a handful of states.

The methodology for data collection, assignment to individual states, and developing estimates of R&D funding and performance has changed during the last decade as the transition was made from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics’ Survey of Industrial R&D to the Business R&D and Innovation Survey. The U.S. total for industrial R&D spending is consistent between these two surveys. Estimates for states with smaller economies are generally less precise than those for states with larger economies.

Private-industry output is the portion of state gross domestic product contributed by state businesses. Data for private-industry output come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Data sources: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Industrial Research and Development and Business R&D and Innovation Survey; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross Domestic Product data.