The Board of Regents Finance Committee on Wednesday received some preliminary data on the CU system’s economic impact: $11.6 billion across the state last year, significant dividends of the four CU campuses delivering exceptional teaching, research, community engagement and health care. As detailed during the committee’s meeting held via webinar, the total economic impact grows to an even more impressive $19.3 billion when also factoring in CU’s two affiliate hospitals – UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado – at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. The figures come from a new study of the 2023-24 fiscal year completed by the Business Research Division of CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
Phillip De Leon, Ph.D., oversees the University of Colorado Denver’s research and creative activities mission, which has been traveling an upward trajectory in recent years. CU Denver’s $31.3 million in externally sponsored projects for fiscal year 2024 was up 10% over the previous year. “The strategic plan’s goal for international recognition of CU Denver’s research and creative work, and the Grand Challenges initiative, really elevated the research mission of CU Denver over the last few years and catalyzed our faculty,” he said.
