INNOVATION IS TAKING PLACE AND ADDING VALUE
Why Is This Important?
Innovation drives a region’s economic success. The ability to generate new ideas, products, and processes is an important source of regional competitive advantage. In life sciences, an important measure for innovation is grant funding awarded by the National Institutes of Health. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds non-federal scientists and their institutions (known as the extramural scientific community) across the country and abroad to research that leads to improvements in the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of various diseases and disabilities. The extramural scientific community receives 80 percent of the funds appropriated to NIH.*
How Are We Doing?
The City of Davis, home to the University of California, is a major recipient of research funding from the National Institutes of Health. In 2009, the Davis area including the university received more than $180 million in NIH awards. Solano County benefits from its proximity to U.C. Davis as high-value business and research activities spread beyond the campus into the broader region. As of September 2009, Solano County had three NIH awards valuing more than $500,000. Since 2003, funding values have ranged from $250,000 to $550,000.
* National Institutes of Health, Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Overview. Page O-7.