In 2000, that translated into $23 billion of basic research funding, about 60% of which was spent in U.S. colleges and universities.
The newest legislative package, called the Protecting America's Competitive Edge (PACE) Act, includes yearly increases of 10% for basic research funding at the departments of Energy and Defense, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and NASA.
These funds aim to bridge the so-called valley of death between basic research funded by NIH and evidence of commercial applicability strong enough to attract private capital.
Indeed, in 2011, government was the second largest source of basic research funding after the private sector in five of the seven top research and development spending nations the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
Within basic research, funding outcomes should be independent of expectations of immediate profitability.
The National Science Foundation is another source of basic research funding in high-temperature superconductivity, mainly through its Division of Materials Research, which is part of the Directorate for Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
HOLLISTER: There is no replacing the role of the federal government as the leading source of basic research funding, but Harvard is increasingly diversifying its sponsored research funding through strong partnerships with non-federal sources.
Woodgett welcomes those pledges, but warns that they would not address the larger issue of what he sees as the government's neglect of basic research funding.
The best way to remain preeminent, argued Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), is to maintain support for the full spectrum of basic research funded by NSF.
But why are the Origin of Life strategic talks taking place in Europe and not the U.S.? It was the shift in the availability of basic research funding that made me return to Europe.... Curiosity-driven research, also called basic research, has recently grown in Europe and is more an integral part of the scientific culture there than in the US".
