Berkeley Lab science has generated thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue for the Bay Area and beyond (photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) generated 5,600 jobs and $446.5 million in personal income, and contributed $690 million to the Bay Area’s embattled economy in 2009, according to an economic impact study prepared by CBRE Consulting of San Francisco. The study also determined that Berkeley Lab was responsible for creating more than 12,000 jobs nationally.

The report further concluded that over the last 20 years, 30 startup companies based on Berkeley Lab technologies contributed $904 million to the Bay Area economy.

Berkeley Lab’s local impacts were profound as well. More than 1,700 jobs in the city of Berkeley were directly tied to Laboratory spending.

Spending impacts were estimated to be $794.5 million statewide and $1.6 billion nationally.

“I am proud that Berkeley Lab has continued to create jobs locally, regionally and nationally during a severe economic recession,” says Laboratory director Paul Alivisatos.  “Equally important are the long-term economic and environmental benefits of our startup companies and the millions of dollars and tons of carbon in savings our energy efficiency technologies have afforded.”

Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory, managed by the University of California (UC). It is primarily funded through DOE’s Office of Science. Located on a 200 acre site in the hills above the UC Berkeley campus, it employs approximately 3,900 scientists, engineers, support staff and students who conduct or support unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines.

CBRE Consulting was commissioned by Berkeley Lab to assess the Laboratory’s economic impact on the regional, state and national levels, and on three specific Bay Area cities to which the Lab has strong ties. In addition to Berkeley, these are Walnut Creek, home to the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), and Emeryville, where the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is headquartered. Berkeley Lab has strong participation in both JGI and JBEI. The CBRE Consulting analysis was based on data gathered from interviews and documents provided by officials from city, regional, state and federal government agencies.

Total Berkeley Lab spending in the city of Berkeley was about $201 million in 2009; the total income was about $118 million. For Walnut Creek, these figures were $27.7 million and $26.3 million respectively. For Emeryville, the figures were $7.1 million and $10 million.

The ripple effects of Berkeley Lab’s economic impact that spread throughout the Bay Area and beyond were not limited just to spending. Nearly 6,000 jobs were generated regionally, 7,000 statewide and more than 12,000 nationally as a result of Laboratory activities. Analysis indicated that every 1.0 direct, full-time-equivalent employee of Berkeley Lab contributed to an additional 3.3 jobs in the U.S.

Across the country, Berkeley Lab’s direct 2009 payroll of $320.7 million – which included payments to retired employees – generated another $400.5 million of indirect and induced personal income, for a total personal income impact nationwide of $721.1 million.

Berkeley Lab’s technology transfer efforts have also generated bountiful economic benefits at the local, regional, state and national levels. Since 1990, approximately 30 start-up companies in various sectors of private industry have been formed on the basis of technologies that were licensed from Berkeley Lab. The CBRE Consulting analysis determined that over the last 20 years, nearly 4,000 Bay Area jobs were created either directly by the Lab’s 30 start-up companies or as a result of their services and products. These start-ups contributed more than $900 million to the Bay Area economy and approximately $1.6 billion to the economy of California. The spending impacts of these start-up companies, their vendors, and associated employees totaled $2.8 billion throughout the US.

Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California. Visit our website at http://www.lbl.gov

Additional information

The Berkeley Lab  Economic Impact Study is available as a pdf here: http://www.lbl.gov/Community/pdf/CBRE-LBNL-Economic-Impact-Study-FINAL.pdf