Federal Research And Development Funding

The United States faces a new challengeâ€"maintaining the vitality of its system for supporting science and technology despite fiscal stringency during the next several years. To address this change, the Senate Appropriations Committee requested a report from the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and the Institute of Medicine to address "the criteria that should be used in judging the appropriate allocation of funds to research and development activities; to examine the appropriate balance among different types of institutions that conduct such research; and to look at the means of assuring continued objectivity in the allocation process." In this eagerly-awaited book, a committee of experts selected by the National Academies and the Institute responds with 13 recommendations that propose a new budgeting process and formulates a series of questions to address during that process. The committee also makes corollary recommendations about merit review, government oversight, linking research and development to government missions, the synergy between research and education, and other topics. The recommendations are aimed at rooting out obsolete and inadequate activities to free resources from good programs for even better ones, in the belief that "science and technology will be at least as important in the future as they have been in the past in dealing with problems that confront the nation." The authoring committee of this book was chaired by Frank Press, former President of the National Academy of Sciences (1981-1993) and Presidential Science and Technology Advisor (1977-1981).

This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study, prepared at the request of the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Budget, examines recent trends in federal support for research and development and the current state of knowledge about the economic effects of that support. Private businesses are the largest sponsors of research and development (R & D) in the United States; however, the federal government has long provided significant support for R & D activities to both supplement and encourage private efforts. The government finances research and development through spending and tax benefits that give businesses an incentive to increase their R & D spending. This study addresses questions such as whether the current level of spending is appropriate, what returns taxpayers receive for public investment in R & D, and whether funds are allocated to areas of inquiry and projects that will provide the highest return on that investment.--Preface.

Two surveys of the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resources Statistics (SRS) provide some of the most significant data available to understand research and development spending and policy in the United States. These are the Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development and the Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. These surveys help reach conclusions about fundamental policy questions, such as whether a given field of research is adequately funded, whether funding is balanced among fields, and whether deficiencies in funding may be contributing to a loss of U.S. scientific or economic competitiveness. However, the survey data are of insufficient quality and timeliness to support many of the demands put on them. In addition the surveys are increasingly difficult to conduct in times of constrained resources, and their technological, procedural, and conceptual infrastructure has not been modernized for procedure or content. Data on Federal Research and Development Investments reviews the uses and collection of data on federal funds and federal support for science and technology and recommends future directions for the program based on an assessment of these uses and the adequacy of the surveys. The book also considers the classification structure, or taxonomy, for the fields of science and engineering.

The past 50 years have witnessed a revolution in computing and related communications technologies. The contributions of industry and university researchers to this revolution are manifest; less widely recognized is the major role the federal government played in launching the computing revolution and sustaining its momentum. Funding a Revolution examines the history of computing since World War II to elucidate the federal government's role in funding computing research, supporting the education of computer scientists and engineers, and equipping university research labs. It reviews the economic rationale for government support of research, characterizes federal support for computing research, and summarizes key historical advances in which government-sponsored research played an important role. Funding a Revolution contains a series of case studies in relational databases, the Internet, theoretical computer science, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality that demonstrate the complex interactions among government, universities, and industry that have driven the field. It offers a series of lessons that identify factors contributing to the success of the nation's computing enterprise and the government's role within it.

Contents: (1) Overview; (2) Federal R&D Funding Perspectives: Agency Perspective; Character of Work, Facilities, and Equipment Perspective; Combined Perspective; (3) Multiagency R&D Initiatives Perspective: Multiagency R&D Initiatives; National Nanotechnology Initiative; Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program; U.S. Global Change Research Program; (4) DoD; (5) DHS; (6) NIH; (7) DoE; (8) NSF; (9) Dept. of Commerce: NIST, NOAA; (10) NASA; (11) USDA; (12) Dept. of the Interior; (13) EPA; and (14) DoT. Charts and tables.