Economic Impact of Health Research

Investment: Funding sources for overall research and development (2004)

Source of R&D Funding Investment State Rank
Federal Government $1,030,600,000 21
Industry $2,170,000,000 22
Universities $335,000,000 6
Non-profit $35,500,000 23
Other * $83,700,000 13
Total $3,654,900,000 22

* Other represents funding from state and local governments and funding for Federally Funded Research and Development Centers from non-federal sources.

Source: National Science Foundation, National Patterns of R&D Resources , 2006


Economic Impact: Statistics for research-driven health industries (2004)

Industry Employment Annual Salary
Pharmaceutical 3,395 $72,759
Medical Device 7,071 $48,057
Research, Testing, and Laboratories 6,455 $48,262
Overall Private Sector  $38,234

Source: Battelle Memorial Institute and Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Growing the Nation's Biotech Sector: State Bioscience Inititives 2006


Highlights from local economic impact studies

The Georgia Research Alliance invested $400 million in research and leveraged an additional $2 billion from federal and private sources. Thus, every dollar invested returned $5. Additionally, university research led to the establishment of more than 100 high-tech spinoff companies.

The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the member medical schools and teaching hospitals in the state had a combined economic impact of $10.1 billion and a total employment impact of 78,000 in 2005.

In FY 2004, the University System of Georgia had a total state-wide impact of $9.7 billion in output, $5.9 billion in gross regional product, and $4.4 billion in personal income. Additionally, the system supported 106,800 jobs in the state.

The University System of Georgia also reports that Georgia Tech received more than $300 million in research awards in FY 2004. The Medical College of Georgia and its health system have an economic impact of $1.5 billion in the region.