The Ideas Market – University of Montana research brings money, jobs, innovation to state

In fiscal year 2008, UM collected a record $62.2 million in grants. (An additional $2 million of research support came from the UM Foundation.) Most of the grant money came from federal government agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Energy, and others. The jobs created by these grants form a pivotal part of the local and state economies, says UM Vice President for Research and Development Daniel Dwyer http://www.umt.edu/research/ .

“All those folks pay state and federal taxes,” he says. “They buy homes. They buy automobiles. They go out to restaurants. And so it’s an important chunk of money that’s coming into the state.”

Beyond jobs, university discoveries also have generated massive economic growth in this country, Dwyer says. For everything from semiconductors to computers to Gatorade, we have university research to thank. (The latter was invented by a University of Florida researcher in 1965 and brings millions of dollars in annual royalties at that university to this day.)

“America’s university research system is the strongest in the world and has been responsible for the remarkable growth of the economy of the United States since World War II,” Dwyer says. “The private sector is wholly and totally dependent on university-based research to produce new products and new business opportunities.”

By Jacob Baynham

Full Story: http://www.umt.edu/montanan/f09/The%20Ideas%20Market.asp