On Nov. 20, 2025, the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science (IRIS) released a report that demonstrates how research spending strengthens the national economy. The All IRIS Vendor Profile Report shows how public and private research awards support the bottom line of businesses across many industries by driving demand for research-related goods and services from thousands of vendors and subcontractors.

For this report, IRIS linked transaction-level data from 27 institutions with public and private datasets to identify the businesses and industries that benefit from research-related spending.

According to the report, IRIS member universities invested $2.67 billion in research-related goods and services through transactions with more than 33,200 vendors and subcontractors in fiscal year 2024. Of that total, more than 6,200 small businesses received $308.9 million in research spending, and nearly 30 percent of all vendors were in the home state of the university making the purchase. Research spending spanned a range of industries, with the highest activity in Health Care and Social Assistance, Educational Services, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, and Manufacturing.

These findings highlight how research investments reach beyond campuses to support businesses and industries that anchor communities and drive regional economies. “A thriving research enterprise requires resources and expertise that go beyond the borders of a university’s campus, and can include everything from lab equipment to building contractors,” said IRIS Executive Director Jason Owen-Smith. “IRIS helps universities share the tangible but often overlooked ways that research universities make life better for all of us, not just through critical scientific advances but also by helping to drive everyday economic and social investments in every county in the country.”

IRIS is a national consortium of research universities that uses administrative data to understand, explain, and improve higher education and research.