Federally funded laboratories in Colorado had an economic impact of $2.3bn in the US state during 2012 and employed nearly 8,000 people, according to fresh research.
The study, which reports a 54% increase over the $1.5bn impact in 2011, was published by CO-LABS, a consortium dedicated to the establishment of Colorado as a global leader in research, technology, and commercialisation.
The state ranks fourth in the US for number of labs, and seventh for federal labs per capita.
Bill Farland, chair of CO-LABS and vice president for research at Colorado State University, said: “In 2008, when we first released our study, it was somewhat unchartered territory for a state to look at federally funded labs as a collective local resource. What we found was more than a dollar value. We learned that there’s a tremendous synergy between the laboratories, businesses and the community. This has allowed the laboratories to become important parts of our communities and has allowed for a variety of companies to spin out from our federal labs. In addition, we learned that people want to live here, making it easier for the labs to recruit top-notch talent to the state.”
