Measuring Success: Research, Innovation and Economic Development pillar
Metric: Annual Research Expenditures
The overarching goal of our Research, Innovation & Economic Development Pillar is to drive knowledge creation focused on improving society. As with the creation of any product, we must prudently spend money on research that creates one of our most important products: new knowledge. Research expenditures are an indicator of real costs for research incurred. Expenditure totals are nationally recognized as a reliable and consistent measure of institutional sponsored program activity, and are used for comparison purposes among peer institutions.
Data definition: Research expenditures must be distinguished from research awards. Research awards represent authorized dollars to be spent over a period of time, generally a fiscal year, for sponsored activity. Sponsored activity consists of external funding for organized research, instruction and other activities (such as public health, community outreach, service, etc.) and all are collectively referred to as “research.” Expenditures represent “research” dollars spent over a period of time, generally a fiscal year. The majority of all sponsored activity operates on a cost-reimbursable basis, which means that payment is received after requesting reimbursement for expenses from the sponsor. Additionally, internal sources of funds count towards the annual expenditures. Baseline figure represents annual research expenditures at UAB for FY2018. Source: National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development Survey (NSF HERD).
