---
title: "Fact of the Week: Increasing R&D 10 Percent Per 100 Lab Scientists Can Yield a 2 Percent Increase in Patent Applications"
date: "2021-04-26"
authors: ["Robert D. Atkinson"]
content_type: "Blogs"
topics: ["Science and R&D"]
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2021/04/26/fact-week-increasing-rd-10-percent-100-lab-scientists-can-yield-2-percent/"
---

# Fact of the Week: Increasing R&D 10 Percent Per 100 Lab Scientists Can Yield a 2 Percent Increase in Patent Applications

## Summary

Funding for federal laboratories is critical to accomplish key national missions. But policymakers have realized it also drives technology commercialization.

**Source:** Albert N. Link, “[Technology Transfer at U.S. Federal Laboratories: R&D —> Disclosures —> Patent Applications](https://bryan.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2021-02-Tech-Transfer-at-US-Federal-Laboratories.pdf),” University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Working Paper 21-02, March 2021.

**Commentary:** Funding for federal laboratories is critical to accomplish key national missions. But policymakers have realized it also drives technology commercialization. That is why Congress has passed legislation like the Stevenson-Wydler Act and the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1996. These policies and lab practices have worked. In a new study, economist Al Link finds that a 10 percent increase in R&D per 100 federal lab scientists is associated with a 1.52 percent to 2.04 percent increase in patent applications per 100 scientists.

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*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2021/04/26/fact-week-increasing-rd-10-percent-100-lab-scientists-can-yield-2-percent/*