• 2009
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The Council for Chemical Research (CCR) commissioned expert economists to conduct a two-phase study, published in 2005 as Measure for Measure: Chemical R&D Powers the U.S. Innovation Engine, on the quantitative impact of research and development (R&D) in the chemical sciences. Using patent and scientific literature, a 20-year timeline from basic research to market was determined. Furthermore, the experts identified two major feedback cycles: (1) chemical industry innovation is directly linked to federally supported foundational research, and (2) the $1 billion federal investment is leveraged by industry investment of about $5 billion dollars for invention development and technology commercialization. Experts also calculated that every dollar invested in R&D by the chemical industry over the past twenty years has generated two dollars in increased operating income, a 17% return on investment after taxes. In 2005, researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory examined the macroeconomic impacts of the $10 billion chemical industry income on gross national product (GNP) and jobs. Using the REMI Policy Insight model, they determined a GNP multiplier of 4 which, applied to the industry operating income of $10 billion, yields $40 billion in GNP; it also creates 600,000 new jobs and roughly $8 billion in additional tax revenues each year, some of which is invested in chemical R&D, thus closing the cycle.