The impact of Ben Franklin Technology Partners is quantifiable and measurable. Since 1983, the BFTP of Northeastern Pennsylvania has achieved the following results.

• Started 429 new companies
• Developed 1,127 new products and processes
• Created 15,479 new jobs
• Retained 21,459 existing jobs

The Pennsylvania Economy League, a nonpartisan research organization, conducted an independent, objective evaluation of the economic impact of Ben Franklin in Pennsylvania from 2002 through 2006. The newly released results determined that the Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP) has created significant economic impact for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

As a result of Ben Franklin’s work with client companies, Pennsylvania generated more than $517 million in additional state tax revenues. That represents a 31/2-to-1 payback on the Commonwealth’s investment of $140 million during the same period. The BFTP program boosted Pennsylvania’s economy by $9.3 billion (increase in gross state product) in that five-year period.

Other major findings included:

• BFTP generated 10,165 additional job-years* in client firms. Those jobs are in industries that pay 33 percent more than the average salary in Pennsylvania.
• The BFTP program generated an additional 22,667 job-years* in Pennsylvania beyond those in client firms through the ripple effect on other industries generated by Ben Franklin clients. The result was that BFTP produced a total of 32,832 job-years* in the Commonwealth between 2002 and 2006 that would otherwise not have existed.
• On average, BFTP clients employed five more people in each year following funding than they would have in the absence of the BFTP investment.

This is the third study that the Ben Franklin program has commissioned since 1989. Cumulative results since 1989 include:

• The Ben Franklin program boosted the Pennsylvania economy by more than $17 billion, while the state invested $451 million in BFTP.
• The BFTP program has generated 45,667 additional job-years* in client firms.
• The BFTP program generated 80,160 additional job-years* beyond those in client firms, for a total of 125,827 additional job-years*.

* Job-years are equivalent to the number of years of full-time work created by the program. For example, if a BFTP client firm employed three more workers for five years as a direct result of the program, that is expressed as 15 additional job-years.