The United States government has launched a new initiative it claims will monitor the impact of US federal science investments on employment, knowledge generation and health outcomes. The initiative is led by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Called Science and Technology for America’s Reinvestment: Measuring the Effect of Research on Innovation, Competitiveness and Science, or STAR METRICS, the initiative will gather data from participating research institutions and the federal agencies which fund them. The first phase will be to use university administration records to calculate the employment impact of federal science spending through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and agencies’ existing budgets. The second phase will measure the impact of science investment in four areas: economic growth, workforce outcomes, scientific knowledge, and social outcomes. No timeframe for the initiative was readily available. The STAR METRICS website is here.
By Emma Broster for Intellectual Property Watch