Managing Research, Development, and Innovation: Managing the Unmanageable, Third Edition

15.2. FEDERAL SUPPORT OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH: AN ENTITLEMENT OR A MEANS TO ACHIEVE NATIONAL GOALS?

Vannevar Bush's assertion that benefits from basic research would be too far in the future for industrial support and that the cost is too great for philanthropy alone has historically proven to be correct. Over the years, industry has accounted for less than 10 percent of the total research funding at academic institutions in the United States (as discussed later in this chapter on sources of academic research funding). This then points to the need for the government to assume this responsibility and to nurture basic research efforts. It was further argued that such basic research would take place primarily in the universities and that major decisions ...