Investment in Research Pays Back:
Federally Funded Labs Drive Innovation, Jobs, and Economic Strength in Colorado and Across the Nation
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is one of Colorado’s most consequential scientific assets, anchoring world-class measurement science in Boulder that supports advanced manufacturing, aerospace, communications, quantum technology, public safety, energy, and climate resilience. According to NIST, every dollar spent by the agency generates $9 in economic output, and recent NIST activity in Colorado includes $174.9 million in financial awards since 2021 and $335 million in Boulder construction investment from FY2021–FY2024. Of NIST’s total budget of approximately $1 billion (FY 2024), 15% is devoted to operations in Boulder. Before 2025, the campus employed 550+people, and an additional 940 contractors and visiting associates work at NIST in Boulder where they live, shop, dine and use other services nearby. Its Colorado work supports advanced manufacturing, aerospace, quantum science, communications, public safety, energy, and climate-related measurement systems that companies and communities rely on.
In 2024, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory - now the National Laboratory of the Rockies generated more than $1.9 billion in nationwide economic impact in FY2023, including $1.3 billion in Colorado — a 48.6% increase since FY2019 — and $889 million in Jefferson County, where its South Table Mountain and Flatirons campuses are located. With a $776 million FY2023 budget, NREL directly employed 3,184 full-time, part-time, and postdoctoral employees and directly employed or supported more than 8,200 jobs nationwide. Its workforce is highly specialized: about 60% of employees focus on scientific research, 86% hold college degrees, and 30% hold doctorates. These numbers demonstrate how Colorado’s research infrastructure turns public investment into jobs, technology development, private-sector partnerships, and long-term energy innovation.
See the full report at the new National Laboratory of the Rockies website.
In 2024, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory - now the National Laboratory of the Rockies generated more than $1.9 billion in nationwide economic impact in FY2023, including $1.3 billion in Colorado — a 48.6% increase since FY2019 — and $889 million in Jefferson County, where its South Table Mountain and Flatirons campuses are located. With a $776 million FY2023 budget, NREL directly employed 3,184 full-time, part-time, and postdoctoral employees and directly employed or supported more than 8,200 jobs nationwide. Its workforce is highly specialized: about 60% of employees focus on scientific research, 86% hold college degrees, and 30% hold doctorates. These numbers demonstrate how Colorado’s research infrastructure turns public investment into jobs, technology development, private-sector partnerships, and long-term energy innovation.
See the full report at the new National Laboratory of the Rockies website.
A critical finding in the report is that federal investments in this state support a strong scientific and technical workforce. Of those employed in federal laboratories, 55 percent have master’s or doctoral degrees, compared with 15 percent statewide; and Colorado ranks fourth among states for the percentage of the workforce engaged in science and engineering jobs.
That expertise has a strong effect on the state’s powerful innovation economy. Highly educated and trained workers leave federal employment to form spinoff companies and others develop technologies based on discoveries and inventions coming out of the research laboratories. Many of the state’s federally funded research laboratories work within powerful partnerships that include industry and academia.
“We found that the labs add value in dollars, jobs and beyond,” added Brian Payer, CO-LABS Board Chair and Program Manager of Strategic Operations for Sphera. “We learned about tremendous synergy between the laboratories, businesses and the community. The labs spur innovation through spin out companies, technology licensing, cooperative work agreements, and access for formal and informal conversations with world-class experts across an incredible breadth of disciplines. In addition, we learned that people want to live here, making it easier for the labs to recruit top-notch talent to the state.”
Contacts:
● Dan Powers, Executive Director, CO-LABS, 720-389-0455 dan@co-labs.org
● Brian Lewandowski, Associate Director, Business Research Division, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder, 303-492-3307 Brian.Lewandowski@colorado.edu
● Elizabeth Lock, CU Boulder Strategic Relations, 303-492-3117 elizabeth.lock@colorado.edu
2017 Economic Impact Report PDF
2013 Economic Impact Report PDF
2011 Economic Impact Report PDF
2008 Economic Impact Report PDF
