Why is this important?
R&D (Research and Development) investment in Long Island’s universities, labs and private sector helps to drive regional innovation.  R&D dollars support the development of technologies that create economic benefits for the regions in which they are developed and for the nation as a whole.

How are we doing?
As the nation continues to recover from the recent global financial crisis, government spending at both the state and federal levels will continue to be increasingly constrained.  In the coming years, tightened budgets will directly reduce federal research funds.  Long Island investors, businesspeople and scientists will need to work together to attract funding from other sources in order to maintain the level of innovation that continues to define and strengthen the region.

Since 2005 growth in federal R&D funding has outpaced national and statewide trends.  Funding in the region rose 54 percent between 2005 and 2010 while it dropped by 12 percent nationally.  Statewide data is only available up to 2008 (2009 will be released fall 2011), and a drop of 13 percent was reported for both the region and the state.

Federal Research & Development (R&D) funding on Long Island increased 25 percent from 2009 to 2010.  This jump from $243 million to $304 million was driven in large part by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Energy (DOE).  Rising by 15 percent over the prior year, funding from HHS reached $189 million, accounting for 62 percent of total federal R&D in the region in 2010. Federal R&D funding from DOE surged by more than a factor of three in 2010, reaching $67 million. This increase is primarily due to a $25 million grant to Long Island Power Authority for an R&D project related to smart grid.  In addition, funding worth $8 million went to Veeco Process Equipment Inc. for the development of building efficiency technologies.  

The third largest source of federal R&D funding on Long Island in 2010 was the National Science Foundation with $31 million, accounting for eleven percent of total federal R&D that year.  Funding from the Department of Commerce in 2006 was for a $13 million Sea Grant study on invasive marine species in the Long Island region.