Research and development expenditures in the United States totaled $456.1 billion in 2013, according to new data from the National Science Foundation, which at 3.2% is a higher growth rate than the 2.2% for the U.S. gross domestic product.
The NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics also found that R&D expenditures rose in 2013 over 2012, when they were $435.3 billion.
The business sector continued to be the largest R&D spender, accounting for $322.5 billion, or 71%, of the total.
Universities and colleges came in second with 14.7% of the U.S. total expenditures.
While Massachusetts typically sits near the top in pulling in federal R&D funding, Maine is notching up its share of NSF monies.
In March of 2015 Brunswick aquaculture company Acadia Harvest Inc. pulled in a $658,000 innovation grant from NSF that will go toward studying how aspects of aquaculture can be applied to land-based agriculture. The grant runs through February 2017.
Last June, Orono-based foam board insulation startup Revolution Research Inc. got a $225,000 grant to develop a prototype fire-retardant and water-resistant thermal insulation foam board.
And the University of Maine, Orono, received a $3.9 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation to use toward building a new ocean engineering and advanced manufacturing lab. The grant matches the $9.98 million raised through four competitions involving the NSF and other agencies, as well as a Maine voter-approved bond.
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Aquaculture firm wins its largest grant to date
The Alfond Foundation’s $3.9 million grant boosts new UMaine ocean engineering lab