Federal support down for academic R&D

Federal funding in fiscal year 2007 for research performed by universities failed to keep pace with inflation for an unprecedented second year in a row, according to NSF. Although federal support for academic research climbed 1.1%, to $30.4 billion, those expenditures declined by 1.6% after taking inflation into account. That followed the modest 0.2% erosion that occurred from FY 2005 to FY 2006. Federal agencies provide more than 60% of all research support at universities, and last year was the first since NSF began keeping track in 1972 that federal support fell in constant dollars for two years running. The retreat came despite President Bush’s 2006 American Competitiveness Initiative, which pledged to double federal spending for basic research in the physical sciences over 10 years.

By contrast, in FY 2007 support for academic research from all nonfederal sources leapt nearly 8%, or 5% after inflation, reaching $19 billion. Funding provided by universities themselves climbed 6.6%, to $9.7 billion, while state and local government sponsorship grew 6.1%, to $3.1 billion. Industry support surged 11.2%, to $2.7 billion, reversing three consecutive years of decline. Funding from all other sources, including nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, rose 10%, to $3.5 billion.

Biomedical research, which received $25.7 billion from all sources, accounted for more than half of the total research conducted at US universities. Funding for physical sciences research totaled $3.8 billion, and for engineering research, $7.5 billion. A recent NSF report with those and related statistics is available online at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08320 .