To develop datasets, tools, and findings that help support the recovery of universities and their academic researchers from the COVID-19 pandemic

Established in 2014, the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science (IRIS) at the University of Michigan systematically collects, cleans, compiles, and curates administrative data from universities about their grant spending, including financial and HR records. IRIS then links these datasets with patenting, publishing, and other important information sources, notably confidential Census files. Using state-of-the-art privacy protection techniques, IRIS makes aggregate statistics available to the university community, while also making detailed microdata available to qualified researchers for further exploration. For example, IRIS researchers have traced how a particular grant supported a particular lab that hired a particular student who went on to publish papers, file patents, and start a company in the same particular field. Assembling this kind of information in bulk for statistical study has been the dream of generations of scholars concerned with innovation and of policymakers and administrators interested in evaluating the return on investments in research. Funds from this grant provide two years of operational support for IRIS, with a particular emphasis on projects to collect and analyze data that will advance our understanding of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on research activities within universities. Additional funds will support outreach activities aimed at helping IRIS expand its roster of partner universities and grow the number of affiliated scholars working to analyze the data collected.