Research investment at Carolina produces returns that are concrete, local, and compounding. This month we’re sharing new data developed by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research for a recent university-wide economic impact analysis. These figures demonstrate UNC‑Chapel Hill’s role as a powerful engine of growth for North Carolina: from jobs and companies to the talent pipeline that attracts industry investment from across the country and around the world. One story illustrates this dynamic with particular clarity, tracing a single investment forward across decades to the industry it helped create.
The Numbers Tell a Powerful Story
Carolina’s research impact can be measured across three interconnected dimensions: the people we train, the businesses we support, and the discoveries we translate into real-world applications. Together, these figures reflect years of sustained investment in people, ideas, and infrastructure. In FY25:
- Carolina research generated $5.5 billion in total economic activity across industries and communities statewide.
- We contributed $2.9 billion to North Carolina’s GDP, strengthening the state’s overall economic output.
- Our research enterprise supported over 24,000 jobs across the state, employing North Carolinians in all regions.
- UNC produced $169.2 million in state and local tax revenue, helping fund schools, infrastructure, and public services in communities large and small.
These metrics are the sum of thousands of decisions, made over decades: to invest in people and ideas, to recruit researchers who ask transformative questions, to build the infrastructure that turns discovery into application, and to sustain the long-term commitment that moves science from the lab into the world. Few stories embody this more clearly than that of gene therapy pioneer Jude Samulski.
One Strategic Hire, Decades of Impact
More than 30 years ago, the state of North Carolina and its partners made a calculated bet. In 1993, UNC‑Chapel Hill recruited a promising young scientist, Jude Samulski, with an initial $250,000 investment from the N.C. Biotechnology Center, supported by state appropriations, followed by $1.25 million in follow-on support.
At the time, gene therapy was an emerging field without a proven track record. What followed became one of the most successful research ROI stories in our state’s history.
Samulski went on to co‑found Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio) in 2001, launching what would become a gene therapy ecosystem centered in North Carolina. That single recruitment decision catalyzed decades of innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth.
By 2016, one AskBio spinoff, Bamboo Therapeutics, was acquired by Pfizer for $150 million, followed by $110 million in manufacturing investments in Lee County. Over the next several years, multiple out‑of‑state companies licensed gene therapy technologies developed at Carolina, investing more than $300 million in new North Carolina facilities and creating 600 high‑quality jobs, many in rural communities.
In 2019, AskBio secured $245 million in venture capital, the largest single financing round ever for a North Carolina bioscience company. In 2020, Bayer AG acquired AskBio for $4 billion, maintaining its footprint, and its workforce, in our state. Pfizer announced an additional $500 million expansion in Sanford, bringing its total investment there to $800 million and adding 300 more jobs.
Gene therapy investment in North Carolina today exceeds $1 billion and supports a growing industry across the state. The origins of that industry lie in a research investment Carolina made decades ago, at a moment when the science was promising, but the returns were far from certain, which is precisely when the most consequential bets are made.
Commitment Yields ROI
Discovery science does not operate on quarterly timelines, and the most significant returns are rarely visible in the years immediately following an investment. What makes those returns so durable is precisely the long arc that produced them, the years of foundational research, the talent that gathered around it, and the institutional commitment that held steady when the outcomes were still uncertain.
The decision to bring one scientist to Carolina produced a billion-dollar industry because the university, the state, and the federal government sustained the investment long enough for the science to find its full value. The Samulski story unfolded within a research ecosystem that North Carolina has built deliberately over decades. UNC-Chapel Hill is a key part of that ecosystem, producing top graduates each year across the scientific, engineering, computational, and health disciplines that life sciences companies require.
The Research Triangle’s strength as an innovation ecosystem rests on a foundation that took decades to build: a concentration of research universities working in close collaboration, producing the talent, the discoveries, and the institutional partnerships that attract industry investment from across the country and around the world. Sustaining that foundation requires the same long-term commitment to research investment that built it, because the talent pipeline that flows from North Carolina’s universities is not a passive asset. It requires active, sustained cultivation to remain competitive.
Proof of Scale
At scale, these investments translate into measurable outcomes across funding, business growth, and job creation:
- Our researchers bring $1.6 billion in total annual research funding to North Carolina.
- We bolster 3,250+ businesses in 83 N.C. counties through $124 million in annual research-related purchases.
- UNC-affiliated startups generate $7.96 billion in total economic impact, supporting more than 33,000 jobs statewide.
- The University Cancer Research Fund generates $13.57 in economic impact for every research fund dollar spent.
- When it comes to federal funding, UNC’s $514 million in NIH grants creates $1.32 billion in N.C. economic impact.
- NIH-funded projects at Carolina create nine in-state jobs for each out-of-state job, totaling 4,986 jobs in the Tar Heel state.
Our research enterprise funds the startups that become companies, the manufacturing facilities that employ thousands, and the talent pipeline that makes North Carolina a destination for industry. The return is measured in the cumulative economic activity that builds over time as discovery moves from the lab to the market.
Why This Matters Now
The Samulski story is ultimately about what happens when an institution commits to an idea early, sustains that commitment through years of foundational research, and builds the scientific infrastructure that allows discovery to compound into something far larger than any single laboratory or career. Investing in the science of gene therapy at Carolina helped seed an industry, build a workforce, and generate returns that continue to grow decades later.
Equally important is the talent pipeline that sustains this momentum. Undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers trained in Carolina labs develop the expertise that powers North Carolina’s life sciences sector. When they move into companies, startups, and public service, they carry that knowledge with them, strengthening industries and communities across the state.
The Samulski story is one example of how Carolina discovery works at scale, where investment in people and ideas generates lasting impact across North Carolina. Given time and sustained support, discovery doesn’t just advance knowledge; it builds industries and shapes the state’s future.