Economic Impacts of the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB) Protein Data Bank

The results of an analysis examining the value and economic impact of the RCSB-PDB and its work are presented below.Sources of data for this analysis include website analytics (RCSB-PDB user numbers and levels of use) and RCSB-PDB operational expenditures.The authors of this analysis also applied several key factors and conclusions drawn from a 2016 study of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the site of PDB Europe. Key FindingsThe analysis revealed that RCSB-PDB data and services are utilized extensively, provide a significant value to its user community and creates significant societal economic impact far beyond its user community.• RCSB-PDB Users: The RCSB-PDB is regularly and widely accessed, and it is estimated that there are more than 1 million unique users annually.However, for purposes of this study, a conservative estimate based on the average monthly unique users was utilized in calculating the economic impacts.Using this methodology, during fiscal year 2016, the RCSB-PDB website at rcsb.org supported an estimated 295,465 unique users.Users hailing from 100+ countries logged more than 7 million sessions and more than 32 million page views.• Replacement Value: While the costs of data creation and deposition are unknown, a reasonable estimate to replicate the RCSB-PDB data archive is $12 billion (assuming $100,000 avg.cost to replicate each entry).• Investment Value: RCSB-PDB's operational costs, including the costs of data creation and deposition, annotating and adding value to the data, and other expenses total $6.9 million per year.• Economic Impacts to the State Economy: Economic impact analysis reveals a total economic impact to New Jersey of $8.5 million (including multiplier effects), approximately 42 jobs created with annual wages of $4.7 million, and estimated tax revenues (to local, state, and federal governments) of $1 million annually.• Access Value: The value of time and money users spend obtaining RCSB-PDB data and services represents the economic value of their investment.The access value of RCSB-PDB data and services is estimated to be $43.7 million annually.• Use Value: Use value represents the value (cost) of the time spent accessing and working with RCSB-PDB data.The use value of RCSB-PDB data and services is estimated at $5.5 billion annually, 800 times greater than RCSB-PDB's direct operating cost.• Contingent Valuation: Contingent valuation involves estimating the value users place on a freely provided service.Utilizing the average contingent value gleaned from a study of EMBL-EBI, the contingent value of the RCSB-PDB data and services is estimated to be $2,573 per user, $760 million in total, 110 times greater than RCSB-PDB's direct operating cost.• Efficiency Impacts: Efficiency impacts (i.e., productive time researchers gain from the efficiency associated with using RCSB-PDB data and services) allow researchers more time to do other work-related activities.The value of RCSB-PDB's efficiency impact is estimated at $2.5 billion annually.• Return on Public Investment in R&D: A wider, more comprehensive measure of long-term societal impacts stemming from RCSB-PDB derives from the impact of publicly funded research that utilizes RCSB-PDB data and services.The estimated and conservative long-term value of the research and development using RCSB-PDB data is $1.1 billion annually.Over the next 30 years, the estimated return on investment is conservatively $8.0 billion in net present value.