Higher ed research and development spending is surging

Growth in research and development spending hit a 20-year high in higher ed, according to the latest data.

Colleges and universities shared the bulk of the costs with the federal government in fiscal year 2023, which saw research and development spending grow by 11.2%. The average growth since 2013 was 5% annually. The R&D total hit $108.8 billion in FY 2023, an increase of $11 billion from FY 2022, according to the National Science Foundation’s latest HERD survey.

The report also answers questions such as which federal agencies fund higher research and development, which R&D fields have the highest expenditures, what other sources provide funds, and how much minority-serving institutions spend.

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Overall, colleges and universities spent $108 billion on R&D in FY2023, with the federal government providing a little more than half of the total and accounting for $5.6 billion of the growth. Salaries, wages and benefits paid to R&D personnel are the biggest expense.

Higher ed research and development spending grew the most in these fields:

• Non-science and engineering fields increased by 17.8% ($1 billion), reaching $6.9 billion
• Engineering fields increased by 11.5% ($1.8 billion), reaching $17.5 billion
• Science fields increased by 10.7% ($8.2 billion), reaching $84.3 billion

Drilling down, spending rose the most in two life sciences subfields that accounted for 51% of total R&D costs:

• Health sciences ($35.7 billion total, $3.9 billion increase)
• Biological and biomedical sciences ($19.5 billion total, $1.4 billion increase)

The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the National Institutes of Health, provided the largest share of federal funding at $33.1 billion. The Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation contributed a large share of the remaining R&D funds while the Department of Energy, NASA and the Department of Agriculture also made significant expenditures. 

Here are the top 10 highest institutional R&D spenders for 2023:

1. Johns Hopkins University
2. University of California, San Francisco
3. University of Pennsylvania
4. University of Michigan
5. University of Washington
6. University of Wisconsin-Madison
7. University of California, Los Angeles
8. University of California, San Diego
9. University of North Carolina
10. Stanford University