A Chicago Tribune story this week shows Illinois leads the Midwest in research and development expenditures at universities and colleges. According to the Illinois Innovation Index created by Illinois Innovation Council, Illinois colleges and universities spent $2.1 billion in 2009 on research and development. The report shows the top two spenders were the University of Illinois at $564 million and Northwestern at $515 million. Illinois outranks all of the states in Midwest and ranks #8 nationally.

Vickie Clark, President of Economic Development Council for Central Illinois, says this good news has quite an impact on the average consumer because it shows that people are investing in research and development which means we are continuing to solve problems. She says investors are also getting smarter with where they put their dollars and we are seeing more money and more targeted investments. “Investors want to put their money into something that is going to produce positive outcomes. Those positive outcomes are beneficial to the consumer and tax payers.”

Jim McConoughey, President & CEO of The Heartland Partnership, used the example of ZuChem to show how R&D investment can lead to real world application and economic development for the entire region. “This company is taking an agricultural application that we have done for generations…growing corn; and using another application that we have done for generations…fermentation; to develop new substances to help with existing issues…finding a sugar substitute suitable for diabetics. Thanks to investment in their R&D process they were able to move forward with this project and begin the steps towards solving a problem that affects millions of people.”

When this product, and others that are researched, developed and invented right here in our region, are put into production it will mean even more investment to the region via economic development. Both McConoughey and Clark agree, that focusing on research and development today is an investment into our region’s future.