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Harvard is an engine of growth in regional economy

Harvard University has a major role to play in helping Greater Boston weather the current recession and prosper in the years to come, according to a new study of the university’s impact on the local economy.

As a major regional enterprise, the university directly employs more
than 18,000 people and attracts more than $3 billion in revenue to the area every year. Overall, the report found that Harvard’s activities resulted in a $4.8 billion investment in the local economy in 2008.

"The region’s colleges and universities stand out as being among the Boston area’s most valuable resources," according to the report, Investing in Innovation: Harvard University’s Impact on The Economy of the Boston area. "Colleges and universities are notable not only for their contribution to employment growth, but [also] for their relative stability."
More importantly, through its mission of education, research, business development and service to the community, the University acts as an incubator for the new ideas that will drive the next round of economic growth.

"Along with the region’s other research universities, Harvard has made Massachusetts a wellspring of innovation," said Harvard President Drew Faust. "These advances have tangible benefits, spawning new technology and life sciences firms that will provide the backbone for the Commonwealth’s future economic security."

In just the past two years, two-dozen new Boston-area companies with roots at Harvard have secured more than $280 million in private equity financing, according to the report.

Among the report’s other findings:

• Harvard is the second largest employer in Greater Boston, and when other factors are considered the university can be directly linked to more than 51,000 jobs in the area.
• About 90 percent of the university’s $3.5 billion budget comes from outside Massachusetts, but $2.6 billion of it is spent locally.
• Harvard spent more than $2.26 billion on new construction and renovation in the past five years, including $580 million in fiscal 2008.
• In 2007, Harvard and its affiliates accounted for 61 percent of all National Institutes of Health funding awards in Massachusetts – a total of nearly $1.4 billion – helping to make Boston one of the world’s leading centers of biomedical research.
• Harvard students performed more than 900,000 hours of community service in just one year.

"The scale of Harvard’s investment in research, innovation and quality of life makes it a particularly valuable asset, and provides a competitive advantage for greater Boston that few other regions, in the U.S. or elsewhere, can match," said Hugh O’Neill, president of Appleseed and author of the report.

Engines of Economic Growth

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In 2003, Harvard and seven other Greater Boston research universities (Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Tufts University, and the University of Massachusetts, Boston) released a collective economic study, "Engines of Economic Growth," that outlined their role as the area's special economic advantage: magnets for talent and investment that infuse more than $7 billion into the regional economy each year.