Americans are strong believers in the benefits of science and technology (Science & Technology Indicators 2018, Fig. 7-10), strongly support federal spending on scientific research (Fig. 7-11), and agree that scientists are working toward the public good and want to make life better for the average person (Fig. 7-16). With all this support, it does not come as a surprise that a vast country as the US is a rock star in research and development (R&D), as we have seen in the Globalization Module.

Traditionally, the federal government has been funding most R&D. In the early 1980s, the business sector started taking over that role. Today, business sector funding accounted for approximately two-thirds of total US R&D (2015: $333.2 billion of the $495.1 billion (Table 4-1).

 

The graph above could suggest that the business sector is taking over research in the US. Yet, the situation is more nuanced. The federal government is the largest source of funding for basic research (the “R,” 44% against 27% by the business sector in 2015, Table 4-4), and this research benefits the business sector, which is mainly doing experimental development (the “D”). The other way round, the business sector funds most of the experimental development, and this benefits basic research. So, when we talk about R&D, we talk about two financial streams that benefit each other, and together, they lift R&D in the US to great heights.

How does the US compare to the rest of the world? Globally the expenses for R&D have been growing dramatically, more than half since 2000, to a dazzling $1.918 trillion in 2015. The US is spending most of the money for R&D, but its share has declined from 37% in 2000 to 26% in 2015, whereas other countries, especially China, are on the rise. Does this pose a problem for the US? One the one hand not, because R&D is a global enterprise as we have seen in the Globalization Module and growing the “global invisible college” is only good. On the other hand, nations invest in R&D to gain a competitive advantage on the global market. More than the US, other countries do R&D that benefits themselves in the first place. How can the US remain a global leader in R&D? The National Science Board suggested for the US to invest in “transformative” research that creates new paradigms or new scientific fields (National Science Board 2010).

Philanthropic science is the new kid on the R&D block. Philanthropists spend less, orders of magnitude less, than the federal government and businesses, but their research is typically considered cool. Yet, here lies also a problem. Is philanthropic “feel good” science, serving particular interests, and benefitting elite universities that science philanthropists tend to prefer? And what about research that mainstream science would consider unethical? Is philanthropic science perhaps an excuse for a libertarian small-government agenda? Or should researchers be happy that philanthropists step in if funding agencies step back? Just like how they sponsored gentleman science in the 19th century that has brought society so much (Science Communication Module)?

Video “Funding the Future: Privatizing American Science”. Credits: The New York Times – Video on YouTube.

 

Review questions (use the S&T Indicators Report):

• What agencies provide most of the funding for R&D in your field of interest? [Fig. 4-12]
• How did this change over time? [Table 4-15]
• What type of research do these agencies fund: basic, applied, or development? [Table 4.17]
• How much does the federal government spent on academic R&D in your field? [Table 5.1]