IP Democracy: NBC-Backed Study Quantifies the Value of Intellectual Property

Courtesy of Paid Content, this thorough study commissioned by NBC and conducted by Steve Siwek of Economists, Inc. that quantifies the value to the U.S. economy of intellectual property activity. While it’s well-known that IP [as in intellectual property, not Internet protocol] businesses drive the economy, Siwek puts some pretty impressive numbers around the concept. The report concludes that the IP industries are

the most important growth drivers in the current U.S. economy,
contributing nearly 40% of the growth achieved by all U.S. private
industry and nearly 60% of the growth of U.S. exportable high-value-add
products and services;
 

crucial to the future growth of the U.S. economy; gross domestic product
(GDP) 10-year growth estimates would be approximately 30% lower than
current predictions without the contributions of these industries;
 

essential contributors to U.S. GDP, responsible for 1/5 of the total U.S.
private industry’s contribution to GDP and 2/5 of the contribution of U.S.
exportable high-value-add products and services to GDP;
 

among the largest and highest-paying employers in the country,
representing 18 million workers who earn on average 40% more than all
U.S. workers;
 

increasingly contributing to the U.S. economy—in 2003 the “core”
copyright industries contributed $33 billion in reported net export
revenues, and the patent-dependent aerospace industry reported 2004 net
export revenues of $32 billion; these two sectors are the largest positive
contributors to U.S. balance of trade.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on November 9, 2005 11:21 AM to IP Democracy