ACADEMIA

Brookhaven National Laboratory’s viability as a premier research facility is crucial to New York State’s future growth, according to a report by economic consultant Pearl M. Kamer, who also serves as chief economist for the Long Island Association. The report, titled “The Economic Impact of Brookhaven National Laboratory on the New York State Economy,” can be viewed at its Web site. For a printed copy, call (631) 344-2397. “Brookhaven Lab injected over $4.76 billion in direct spending into the New York State economy in just over a decade, creating almost 79,000 secondary jobs statewide,” said Pearl Kamer, underscoring the Laboratory’s value to New York. Kamer added that Brookhaven’s world-class facilities attract thousands of visiting scientists each year, who help fuel the local economy. Owned and primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven Lab is among the five largest high-technology employers on Long Island, with about 2,700 employees, including a high proportion of scientists, engineers and technicians. Home to six Nobel Prizes, the Laboratory creates and operates major facilities available to university, industrial, and government personnel for basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical and environmental sciences, and energy technologies. Kamer reports that several of the Laboratory’s current projects will significantly enhance its economic value to New York State. These projects include the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which will provide researchers in the Northeast with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate and study nanoscale materials that may form the basis of new technologies. Also, the Laboratory proposes to build a new synchrotron light source to succeed its current National Synchrotron Light Source, where about 2,400 scientists annually use bright beams of x-rays, ultraviolet light, and infrared light for research in numerous scientific fields. The new light source would enable scientists to focus on the most important challenges on the nanoscale that could, for instance, lead to more efficient, low-cost hydrogen production and cheaper electronics. Economic Report Highlights Kamer’s report details Brookhaven Lab’s direct spending (operating and capital expenditures) as well as the secondary economic impacts, also known as “ripple effects” of that spending, for fiscal years (FY) 1993-2003 and for FY04. (Brookhaven Lab’s fiscal year begins on October 1.) Also, Kamer projected future economic impacts of Brookhaven Lab over the next decade. Report highlights include: In fiscal years 1993 to 2003, the Laboratory injected more than $4.76 billion in direct spending into the New York State economy. This increased the state’s output of goods and services by almost $9.2 billion and created almost 79,000 secondary jobs in the state. In FY04 alone, the Laboratory’s direct spending of $454.4 million resulted in the expansion of New York State’s total output of goods and services by more than $880 million and created more than 7,700 secondary jobs statewide. Projected spending for fiscal years 2005 through 2014 could total almost $5.6 billion. More than 91,000 jobs would be created statewide, and virtually all industries, including some of the state’s key manufacturing industries, would benefit from this spending. Brookhaven Lab annually hosts an estimated 3,500 visiting scientists who use the Laboratory’s world-class facilities to advance their research. More than 30 percent of the visiting scientists are from New York State universities and businesses. These visiting scientists generally live on or near the Laboratory site and help to fuel the local economy. Brookhaven Lab invites industry to develop and market the inventions it has patented. Of the 162 inventions in BSA’s patent portfolio over the last 15 years, 96 were licensed and 63 were commercialized in the fields of molecular biology, pharmaceuticals, instrumentation, environmental technologies, and electronics – industries that New York relies on to form the core of a growing technology base. An Update to the Report: Fiscal Year 2005 According to Brookhaven Lab’s Procurement & Property Management Division, the Laboratory’s commitment to spending locally continued in FY05. E.W. Howell Co., Inc., of Woodbury, Long Island, was Brookhaven’s top vendor in FY05, winning contracts valued at more than $51.4 million for construction on two projects: the $81-million (projected) Center for Functional Nanomaterials and the $12.6-million Research Support Building. In FY 2005, Brookhaven Lab’s total expenditures amounted to $465 million, of which $280 million was spent on employees’ salaries, wages, and fringe benefits. Since most employees live locally, the majority of those funds were spent on Long Island. The Laboratory contracted to purchase over $45.7 million in supplies and services from New York State businesses in FY 05, and about $37.4 million of that amount was allocated for Long Island businesses.