Five of those states — Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Utah — saw at least a 20 percent change, according to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey for 2015.
Between FY10-15 overall U.S. research and development (R&D) spending at U.S. universities grew 12.1 percent, from about $61.2 billion to $68.7 billion.
California remained the leader in university R&D spending, but spending in the state grew at a slightly lower rate over the five years (10.5 percent) than the national average.
More than half of the other top 20 states experienced gains that exceeded the national average of 12.1 percent.
From FY14 to FY15, the percent growth was much slower across the board with 17 states reporting a decline in university R&D expenditures.
Dragged down by states with negative increases, overall university R&D spending in the U.S. increased by just 2.2 percent from FY14 to FY15 with only 21 states exceeding the national average.
To review SSTI’s table, click here.