Iowa State’s Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS) had a total economic impact of $424 million in 2015, CIRAS announced after tabulating data from company-completed surveys. The figure represents assistance provided to 1,561 distinct companies in 95 Iowa counties via special projects or educational workshops.
Companies responding to surveys estimated that work performed by CIRAS and its partners during 2015 resulted in:
- $359 million in new or retained sales
- $52 million in new investments by the companies
- $13 million in costs saved or avoided
- 5,400 jobs saved or retained.
Over the past five years, work performed or arranged by CIRAS has had an economic impact of more than $2 billion, with 28,653 jobs either saved or retained.
CIRAS was created in 1963 by Iowa State’s College of Engineering to help Iowa’s businesses and their communities prosper and grow. The CIRAS mission is to improve the quality of life in Iowa by enhancing the performance of industry through applied research, education and technical assistance. CIRAS does this by working across the state to share its staffers’ expertise in enterprise leadership, growth, productivity and technology.
CIRAS is supported in part by the DoC/NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the DoD/DLA Procurement Technical Assistance Program, the DoC/EDA University Center Program, and the State of Iowa Economic Growth Committee appropriation for the CIRAS Technology Assistance Program.
For details on the economic impact in specific Iowa counties, click here. Or, for more information, contact communications manager Jeff Eckhoff at eckhoffj@iastate.edu.