Economic Impact of University Research Parks

LSU’s The President’s Annual Impact Report 2024-2025

In 2024-25, LSU delivered a landmark year of progress with record-setting enrollments, more than half a billion dollars in research activity, and a surge in degrees awarded across campuses. That impact translated into thousands of jobs supported, billions in economic contributions to Louisiana, and major breakthroughs in fields such as healthcare (including development of a new class of antibiotics), energy innovation, agriculture and environmental resilience, cybersecurity, and national-security research. Through investments in new facilities, expanded academic programs, and partnerships across industry and government, LSU strengthened its role as a driver of opportunity, innovation, and long-term prosperity for the state.

Tech Parks Arizona marked its 30th anniversary with a new economic impact report revealing a $2.6 billion annual contribution to Arizona’s economy.

The report highlights that in 2024 alone, the organization supported 15,857 jobs, generated $1.1 billion in labor income, and produced $84 million in state and local tax revenues through its three innovation hubs — the UA Tech Park at Rita, UA Tech Park at The Bridges and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation.

“Tech Parks Arizona stands among North America’s leading university research and technology parks, exemplifying the best practices in innovation-driven economic development,” says Vickie Palmer, AURP CEO. “This newly released impact analysis reaffirms Tech Parks Arizona’s critical role as a national model — successfully linking academic research, industry collaboration and entrepreneurial growth to generate extraordinary economic outcomes.”

A new report from the University of Kentucky (home to the Coldstream Research Campus) on the state’s economy highlights both the state’s growing diversity and its persistent rural–urban disparities.

While rural Kentucky experienced population decline from 2011 to 2019, the trend reversed between 2020 and 2024 as more people moved to counties bordering urban centers — supported by expanded remote and hybrid work options. Despite this modest rebound, economic growth remains uneven: from 2001 to 2023, GDP grew by 49% in Kentucky’s 35 urban counties compared to just 18% in its 85 rural ones.

The analysis shows that rural residents earn, on average, 26% less per capita than urban residents, and even those with bachelor’s degrees make 40% less than their urban counterparts. Manufacturing remains the largest contributor to state GDP but represents a shrinking share of employment, while service and logistics jobs are expanding fastest. Rural areas also host a greater share of small firms (under 500 employees), yet their workers consistently earn lower wages across company sizes and ages.

Fiscal Year 2025 was a landmark year for research commercialization at the University of Michigan. Our office received 673 invention reports from our talented faculty and staff, setting a new record for creativity and discovery. In addition, we executed 326 license agreements and for the second time in our office’s history we supported the launch of 31 new startups. These achievements underscore the university’s commitment to translating groundbreaking research into tangible benefits.

Additionally, we executed 135 sponsored research agreements with company partners totalling more than $32.9 million in value — a significant contribution to the university’s total of $170.6 million in corporate sponsored research awards. These corporate research alliances enable our researchers to drive real- world, scalable solutions across vital fields ranging from biotechnology to mobility to climate resilience.

Founded in 1876 as the nation’s first research university, The Johns Hopkins University and shortly thereafter The Johns Hopkins Hospital have grown into global leaders in education, healthcare, and scientific innovation. Today, Johns Hopkins is not only a hub for discovery and knowledge creation—it is also an anchor institution with deep economic and social ties to Baltimore, Maryland, and the broader Mid-Atlantic region. With more than 70,000 employees, multiple academic campuses, major hospitals, research facilities, and affiliates across several states, Johns Hopkins is one of the most significant drivers of regional growth and opportunity.

Morgan State University is a premier public teaching and research institution located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is well regarded for its academic rigor, cutting edge research and public service efforts. As a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), Morgan has a well-documented history of providing opportunities for African American students to excel, particularly in the engineering and science fields. It also seeks to serve a diverse student body from all backgrounds, while producing high quality graduates that are successfully prepared to serve in a global society.

Vanderbilt-related activity accounted for almost $10 billion being directly spent in the Nashville area last year, the largest share of which is associated with VUMC. This creates a significant impact on the local economy, yielding a total of $22.13 billion in output, $13.17 billion in value-added (the local equivalent of GDP), earnings of $7.46 billion and more than 120,000 jobs.

The Alabama Productivity Center (APC) focuses research and educational resources on the enhancement of productivity and quality within Alabama businesses. APC works directly with businesses, organizations and government agencies throughout Alabama to increase their efficiency, provide cost-saving solutions and improve overall productivity.

The APC is home to Region 3 of the Alabama Technology Network, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the state of Alabama.

For more information about APC, visit https://apc.ua.edu/.

During the analysis year, Lehigh spent $289.7 million on payroll and benefits for 5,332 full-time and part-time employees, and spent another $200.9 million on goods and services to carry out its day-to-day operations and research activities. This initial round of spending creates more spending across other businesses throughout the regional economy, resulting in the commonly referred to multiplier effects. This analysis estimates the net economic impact of Lehigh that directly accounts for the fact that state and local dollars spent on Lehigh could have been spent elsewhere in the region if not directed toward Lehigh and would have created impacts regardless. We account for this by estimating the impacts that would have been created from the alternative spending and subtracting the alternative impacts from the spending impacts of Lehigh.

On the Coastal Bend Region for every 1,000 students the impact is $70.2M annually and 590 jobs.