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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — The Great Lakes region’s blue economy supports $1 trillion in gross domestic product and 6.9 million jobs across six states, according to a new report commissioned by independent nonprofit water innovation hub Current with analysis led by RTI International, an independent scientific research institute.
The State of Blue Economy 2026 report describes the blue economy as an interconnected supersector in which water is a critical market driver, including the water cluster, suppliers, end users and water itself as an economic, environmental and cultural resource. The report found that 304,200 organizations make up the Great Lakes blue economy and that the sector supports 25% of the region’s GDP.
“Water is often discussed as an environmental issue, but this analysis shows it is also central to economic resilience and competitiveness,” said Michael Hogan, economic development expert at RTI and co-author of the report. “The Great Lakes region has a concentration of jobs, patents and research and startup activity that gives policymakers, investors and innovators a practical basis for deciding where to focus next.”
The analysis found that the region, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, accounts for 23% of water-related patents awarded over the past decade, a share that is seven percentage points higher than the region’s overall participation in U.S. patent filings. The report also found that the Great Lakes region received 23.1% of the nation’s separation patents and 21.1% of wastewater treatment patents, compared with 15.5% of all patents.
The report also examines the water cluster, a subset of the broader blue economy that includes organizations developing and providing technologies, products and services to manage the movement, quality and use of water. The water cluster supports 896,700 jobs in 86,000 private sector establishments across the six-state region, according to the report. Wages in the regional water cluster are 37% higher than state averages.
In addition to employment and patent activity, the report analyzes investment and research funding. It found that 237 venture-backed water cluster companies in the region raised $1.3 billion and supported more than 4,700 jobs from 2015 to 2025. The report also found that Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer awards for water cluster-related research totaled $229 million from 2015 to 2024.
The report highlights four emerging technology areas with sizable global markets by 2030: reduction and reuse at the water-energy nexus, metal and mining wastewater recovery systems, PFAS detection, removal and destruction and wastewater nutrient recovery systems.
Learn more about RTI’s water resources work
RTI International is an independent scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world's most critical problems with technical and science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach—one that integrates expertise across social, statistical, data, and laboratory sciences, engineering, and other technical disciplines to solve the world’s most challenging problems.
For more information, visit www.rti.org.
