By ROBIN K. COOPER
rcooper@bizjournals.com

The 64-campus State University of New York has a $19.8 billion annual impact on the state's economy.

The public university system spent $11.2 billion to run the schools and pay wages and benefits to 83,800 faculty and staff, according to a new study by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany and the University at Buffalo Regional Institute.

The recently released report shows that SUNY schools generated $1.5 billion in tuition and fees, $3.9 billion in state aid, grants and contract funding and $1.1 billion of federal assistance.

The report, which analyzes spending by SUNY schools, students, employees and visitors for the 2008-09 school year, was commissioned by Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, who has overseen the public university system for two years.

The 128-page report highlights how SUNY accounted for $1.3 billion in research revenue.

The universities filed 225 patent applications, received 79 patents, created 25 startup companies and 22 spin-off companies.

SUNY also generated $23 million in licensing fees.

The ability of SUNY Albany's Alain Kaloyeros to rapidly grow the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering over the past decade is highlighted in the report.

Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of CNSE, is credited with building the nanoscience research center from a 72-employee operation in 2001 to a $7 billion hub with 250 companies and more than 2,600 scientists and engineers.

The report also discusses the 250 research scientists at Empire Genomics, a lab and small company at the Center of Excellence in Buffalo.

This article originally appeared in The Business Review of Albany.