Measuring the Economic Value of Research

An innovative, big data approach to tracking the impact and benefits of publicly funded research, focusing on food safety.

This book analyses the impact of federal research spending in food safety - a public policy question with huge economic ramifications. This innovative study makes use of an extraordinary new data infrastructure and applies new 'big data' techniques to show connections between university research funding and subsequent activities of researchers.The scientific advances that underpin economic growth and human health would not be possible without research investments. Yet demonstrating the impact of research programs is a challenge, especially in areas that span disciplines, industrial sectors, and encompass both public and private sector activity. All areas of research are under pressure to demonstrate benefits from federal funding of research. This exciting and innovative study demonstrates new methods and tools to trace the impact of federal research funding on the structure of research, and the subsequent economic activities of funded researchers. The case study is food safety research, which is critical to avoiding outbreaks of disease. The authors make use of an extraordinary new data infrastructure and apply new techniques in text analysis. Focusing on the impact of US federal food safety research, this book develops vital data-intensive methodologies that have a real world application to many other scientific fields.