A center for the world's best research and researchers.
Colorado has 33 federal laboratories, one of the highest concentrations of federally funded science and research centers in the nation. Federally funded research facilities in Colorado contributed an estimated $2.6 billion to the state’s economy in 2016 and supported more than 17,600 jobs, according to a report from the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business.
The most recent economic impact study released by CO-LABS, a consortium organized to establish Colorado as a global leader in research, technology, and their commercialization, underscores the importance of sustained funding for research at the federal laboratories and the resulting impact on the economy. For more information and to download the report, visit co-labs.org.
Major federal labs and research centers
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - the federal government's top agency for monitoring our climate, the space environment, and ocean resources (Boulder)
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - the nation's primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency R&D (Golden)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology (Boulder)
- University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) - dedicated to exploring and studying our atmosphere and its interaction with the sun, oceans, biosphere, and society (Boulder)
- National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) - managed by UCAR, is a National Science Foundation R&D Center (Boulder)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) - directs research in the atmospheric sciences into practical applications in weather and climate (Fort Collins)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) - dedicated to research targeted at all aspects of Earth System Science and communicating its findings to the global scientific community (Boulder)