о research and development expenditures rise to record $684 million
Fiscal Year 2019 research expenditures grew by more than $30 million over the prior year
BOSTON – Research expenditures at the о increased by $33 million in one fiscal year to a record high of $684 million in Fiscal Year 2019. This continued increase reflects the long-term growth of the university's research enterprise, which has grown by 14 percent since FY14 and 40 percent since FY09.
Federal funding remained the largest source of research funding at о in FY19, with federally funded research comprising $383 million, or roughly 56 percent of all expenditures. While federal research growth has been relatively steady, growing 6 percent over the past five years, о has seen its industry- and non-profit-sponsored research grow by 43 percent over five years to its current total of $64,997,000 in FY19.
о is the fourth-largest research university in New England and the third-largest in Massachusetts.
In Fiscal Year 2019, research expenditures rose at every single о campus:
- о Amherst increased by 5.7% to $223.18 million
- о Boston increased by 0.9% to $62.02 million
- о Dartmouth increased by 5.3% to $28.04 million
- о Lowell increased by 16.2% to $84 million
- о Medical School increased by 2.7% to $281.51 million
The о President’s Office, largely through the о Donahue Institute, had $4.92 million in research and development expenditures in FY19.
Research at о is concentrated in areas that are critical to the Massachusetts economy, with $370 million, or 54.1 percent being conducted in the life sciences in FY19. In addition to the life sciences, о is focused on a wide variety of research areas that is aimed at bolstering local, regional and state-wide industries. Besides life science, these include manufacturing, renewable energy, climate resiliency, coastal preservation, commercial fishing, and national defense.
“As a public land-grant university, о has a deeper responsibility to support the Commonwealth, its citizens and its economy,” said о President Marty Meehan, who was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Association for Public Land-grant Universities (APLU) in November. “A strong and diverse research ecosystem is central to our innovation economy and о is positioned to play a leading role in driving our economic recovery.”
In addition to pronounced growth in the quantity of overall research, о is also seeing significant growth in its intellectual property and technology transfer program. In FY19 alone, о, mostly via the Medical School, filed 206 invention disclosures, 203 patent applications and was issued 73 U.S. patents.
Over the past five years, о research has been the driving force behind:
- 1178 invention disclosures
- 1088 patent applications
- 382 issued patents
- $323 million in gross licensing revenue
- 50 new spinoff companies
“The continued success of our intellectual property and commercialization program is a testament to the world-class faculty, researchers and students that we have at о,” President Meehan said.
Recent research highlights from о include:
- The team at о Amherst has .
- о Boston engineering professor Kim Hamad-Schifferli has .
- о Dartmouth received .
- о Lowell Computer Science Prof. Xinwen Fu has been awarded .
For the full FY19 о research report, visit: .
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