A new study shows that the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) created 220 jobs and returned $21.7 million to Arizona's economy last year.

TGen commissioned research firm Tripp Umbach to conduct a study to measure the payoff for taxpayers who help fund the institute's research.

The study found that TGen returned $3.95 for every dollar that the state invested in the research institute during the last fiscal year.

In a long-term analysis, the report predicts that spin-off companies involved in drug therapy will increase TGen's economic impact to $31.7 million by 2010 and $72.1 million by 2025.

"TGen has gone further, faster than any research organization we've ever studied," Tripp Umbach CEO Paul Umbach told the Arizona Republic.

Umbach's firm has completed similar studies for clients such as Mayo Clinic Rochester, Cleveland Clinic, and University of Arizona.

The state funds $5.5 million a year of TGen's annual budget of about $60 million, yet nearly all of the state's annual contributions will expire by June 30. The nonprofit institution is expected to ask for a renewal in state funding next year.

TGen's president and scientific director Dr. Jeffrey Trent told the Arizona Republic that the research institute has not set a timeframe for asking state lawmakers for additional funding, although the group hosted several lawmakers at its downtown facility to share the results of the economic impact study.

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More information:

"Study finds big impact on economy from TGen," Arizona Republic, 12/07/2006