Table of Contents
Our goals for Building a Talent Strong Texas
- $1 billion increase in annual private and federal research and development expenditures by 2030
We must increase research funding to achieve our Texas-sized potential.
Texas’ economy ranks among the world’s top 10, with industries at the frontiers of energy, technology, finance, and aerospace. But given our state’s size and status as a global economic leader, our engagement in research and development falls short of our potential.
Increasing sponsored research will improve our competitiveness on a national and global scale, as well as generate advancements that benefit individual Texans and stimulate economic growth. More specifically, achieving our research goals will help improve Texas’ innovation ecosystem and drive economic development and opportunity across the state.
The research landscape is expanding.
We are seeing the results of Texas’ long-range goal to expand investment in institutional research. In 2010, only four doctoral universities in the state qualified as “R1” research institutions, which conduct the highest level of research activity. Today we have 11 R1 universities, as well as 11 institutions in the second tier of research activity.
Texas is on track to reach its expenditures goal.
Research expenditures in Texas increased by $670 million from 2020 to 2023. That represents 67% of our goal, with seven years left to generate the remaining 33%.
Funding comes in waves, rather than a steady stream, and is determined at the federal level largely through grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other sources. Texas must remain vigilant in pursuing valuable research dollars that move our knowledge and economy forward.
