Research funding is a term generally covering any funding for scientific research, in the areas of both "hard" science and technology, and social science. The term often connotes funding obtained through a competitive process, in which potential research projects are evaluated and only the most promising receive funding. Such processes, which are run by government, corporations or foundations, allocate scarce funds. Total research funding in most developed countries is between 1.5% and 3% of GDP; Sweden is the only country to exceed 4%. [1] Jump to: navigation, search Research is an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry in order to discover, interpret or revise facts, events, behaviours, or theories, or to make practical applications with the help of such facts, laws, or theories. ... // What is science? There are different theories of what science is. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Terms like SOSE (Studies of Society & the Environment) not only refer to social sciences but also studies of the environment. ... Jump to: navigation, search A developed country is a nation that enjoys a relatively high standard of living through a strong high-technology diversified economy. ...

Most research funding comes from two major sources, corporations (through research and development departments) and government (primarily carried out through universities and specialised government agencies). Some small amounts of scientific research are carried out (or funded) by charitable foundations, especially in relation to developing cures for diseases such as cancer, malaria and AIDS. The phrase research and development (also R and D or R&D) has a special commercial significance apart from its conventional coupling of research and technological development. ... Jump to: navigation, search When normal cells are damaged or old they undergo apoptosis; cancer cells, however, avoid apoptosis. ... Jump to: navigation, search Red blood cell infected with Malaria (Italian: bad air; formerly called ague or marsh fever in English) is an infectious disease which in humans causes about 350-500 million infections and approximately 1. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Red Ribbon is the global symbol for solidarity with HIV positive people and those living with AIDS. The Red Ribbon made its public debut when host Jeremy Irons wore it during the 1991 Tony Awards. ...

In the OECD, around two-thirds of research and development in scientific and technical fields is carried out by industry, and 20% and 10% respectively by universities and government, although in poorer countries such as Portugal and Mexico the industry contribution is significantly less. The US government spends more than other countries on military R&D, although the proportion has fallen from around 30% in the 1980s to under 20%. [2] Government funding for medical research amounts to approximately 36% in the U.S. The government funding proportion in certain industries is higher, and it dominates research in social science and humanities. Similarly, with some exceptions (e.g. biotechnology) government provides the bulk of the funds for basic scientific research. In commercial research and development, all but the most research-oriented corporations focus more heavily on near-term commercialisation possibilities than "blue-sky" ideas or technologies (such as nuclear fusion). One of the most famous exceptions is the innovation-favouring environment of the 1970s at Xerox Parc, where various ideas including the computer mouse were developed. Similarly, IBM's research into quantum computing has been going on for some years, and it will likely be some years more before it yields commercialisable technology. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization of those developed countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy. ... The phrase research and development (also R and D or R&D) has a special commercial significance apart from its conventional coupling of research and technological development. ... A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ... Terms like SOSE (Studies of Society & the Environment) not only refer to social sciences but also studies of the environment. ... The humanities are a group of academic subjects united by a commitment to studying aspects of the human condition and a qualitative approach that generally prevents a single paradigm from coming to define any discipline. ... Jump to: navigation, search Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. ... Jump to: navigation, search The deuterium-tritium fusion reaction is considered the most promising for producing fusion power. ... Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was a flagship research division of the Xerox Corporation, based in Palo Alto, California, USA, which essentially created the modern personal computer paper paradigm. ... Two wireless computer mice, with scroll wheels A mouse is a handheld pointing device for computers, involving a small object fitted with one or more buttons and shaped to sit naturally under the hand. ... Jump to: navigation, search International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue) NYSE: IBM (incorporated June 15, 1911, in operation since 1888) is headquartered in Armonk, NY, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services. ... Molecule of alanine used in NMR implementation of error correction. ...

Government-funded research

Many governments of developed countries provide considerable funds (primarily to universities) for scientific research (in fields such as physics and geology) as well as social science research (in fields such as economics and history). Much of this is not intended to provide concrete results that may be commercialisable, although research in scientific fields may lead to results that have such potential. Most university research is aimed at gaining publication in peer reviewed academic journals. Jump to: navigation, search A developed country is a nation that enjoys a relatively high standard of living through a strong high-technology diversified economy. ... Since antiquity, people have tried to understand the behavior of matter: why unsupported objects drop to the ground, why different materials have different properties, and so forth. ... Jump to: navigation, search Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history, and the processes that shape it. ... U.S. Economic Calendar Economics at the Open Directory Project Economics textbooks on Wikibooks The Economists Economics A-Z Institutions and organizations Bureau of Labor Statistics - from the American Labor Department Center for Economic and Policy Research (USA) National Bureau of Economic Research (USA) - Economics material from the organization... One of the most famous quotations about history and the value of studying history by Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, reads: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ... Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ... Academic publishing describes a system of publishing that is necessary in order for academic scholars to review work and make it available for a wider audience. ...

In some countries (notably the United States) government funding for research into defence-related technological research has historically been significant. Some of this takes place in public research institutions such as DARPA, whilst much else is carried out by major defense contractors in expectation of being able to sell the results to the government (so is funded privately, but on the basis of implicit or explicit agreement of costs being recouped from the government). This relationship between public and private without any market pressure can sometimes lead to inefficiency; an infamous example is the development of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. ... A defense contractor (sometimes called a military contractor) is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a defense department of a government. ... General Characteristics (M2 Bradley) Length: 21 ft 2 in (6. ...

In the United States, inventions "conceived or actually reduced to practice" in the performance of government-funded research may be subject to the Bayh-Dole Act. The reduction to practice is a United States patent law concept. ... The Bayh-Dole Act or Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act is a United States legislation of 1980. ...

Corporate and private research

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as the pace of technological progress increased before and during the industrial revolution, most scientific and technological research was carried out by individual inventors using their own funds. A system of patents was developed to allow inventors a period of time (often twenty years) to commercialise their inventions and recoup a profit, although in practice many found this difficult. The talents of an inventor are not those of a businessman, and there are many examples of inventors (e.g. Charles Goodyear) making rather little money from their work whilst others were able to market it. Jump to: navigation, search The Industrial Revolution was the major technological, socioeconomic and cultural change in the late 18th and early 19th century resulting from the replacement of an economy based on manual labor to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. ... An inventor is a person who creates new inventions, typically technical devices such as mechanical, electrical or software devices or methods. ... Jump to: navigation, search A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or substance (known as an invention) which is new, inventive... Charles Goodyear, as illustrated in an 1891 Scientific American article Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 - July 1, 1860) is popularly renown as the inventor of vulcanized rubber. ...

In the twentieth century, scientific and technological research became increasingly systematised, as corporations developed, and discovered that continuous investment in research and development could be a key element of success in a competitive strategy. It remained the case, however, that imitation by competitors - circumventing or simply flouting patents, especially those registered abroad - was often just as successful a strategy for companies focused on innovation in matters of organisation and production technique, or even in marketing. A classic example is that of Wilkinson Sword and Gillette in the disposable razor market, where the former has typically had the technological edge, and the latter the commercial one. Jump to: navigation, search A corporation is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a Civil law systems may refer to corporations as moral persons; they may also go by the name AS (anonymous society) or something similar, depending... The phrase research and development (also R and D or R&D) has a special commercial significance apart from its conventional coupling of research and technological development. ... Wilkinson Sword is the name given to a brand of mens shaving equipment. ... Gillette may refer to: Gillette, Wyoming The Gillette Company, founded by King C. Gillette. ...

Criticism and support of government-funded and privately-funded research

Occasionally there are particular examples of government-funded research that are held up by the media as examples of a waste of taxpayers' money - for example on the mechanics of the interaction between milk and cornflakes. Occasionally some research is politically controversial; in the US, there have been cases of controversy over research into sexually-transmitted disease. Jump to: navigation, search A glass of cows milk Milk most often means the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals. ... Corn flakes are a food made by combining cooked corn along with sugar and vitamins. ...

More generally, (government-funded) research into such matters as the nature of quantum mechanics or the existence of water on Mars is considered by some to be a waste of money which might be better spent elsewhere (for example on education), or even on tax cuts. Since the value of such knowledge is often difficult or impossible to judge, and no commercial benefit (at least on any relevant time horizon) can be derived, an extreme free market or libertarian position is that therefore such knowledge should not be pursued. However, even in the most theoretical of fields, it is often difficult to determine in advance where research may lead. For example, decades of research into quantum mechanics have made possible work on quantum computing, which is now expected to be an even greater leap forward in computing technology than the development of the microchip, which in some areas is beginning to reach the limits of what is physically possible with this technology (although it remains to be seen whether the inherent technical difficulties in quantum computing actually allow for a widespread application of this technology). Jump to: navigation, search Fig. ... North Polar region with icecap. ... A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy... This article deals with the libertarianism as defined in America and several other nations. ... A Microchip is, properly, an integrated circuit. ...

As with virtually all government activity that is not directly concerned with protecting freedom, non-defense-related government-funded research is considered unethical and/or inefficient by libertarians, as it necessarily involves taxation (which is considered coercive) and the allocation of resources by non-market means, which is considered to be always inferior to the alternative of leaving the matter to the free market. An often-quoted example used to illustrate the difference in efficiency between government-funded and privately funded research projects is the quest of mapping the human genome. The U.S. government was funding such a mission, called the Human Genome Project, while at the same time the quest was being pursued separately with private venture capital by Celera Genomics. Celera Genomics used a newer, albeit riskier technique and proceeded at a faster pace and at a fraction of the cost of the tax-funded project (approximately $3 billion of taxpayer dollars versus about $300 million of private funding). Some HGP researchers claimed Celera's method of genome sequencing "would not work," however that project eventually adopted some of Celera's methods. This article deals with the libertarianism as defined in America and several other nations. ... Coercion is the practice of compelling a person to act by employing threat of force. ... Street markets such as this one in Rue Mouffetard, Paris are still common in France. ... A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy... The Human Genome Project (HGP) endeavored to map the human genome down to the nucleotide (or base pair) level and to identify all the genes present in it. ... Celera Genomics was established in May 1998 by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now Applera Corporation), with Dr. J. Craig Venter from The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) as its first president. ...

A characteristic of privately-funded research is that it is almost always profit-oriented. In other words, private corporations tend to devote a relatively small investment to fund research into a field that shows little prospect of being profitable in the near future, even if such research could lead to highly beneficial results (for example, drug companies may not want to invest in finding the cure for a disease if most of the people affected by that disease are too poor to be able to afford such a cure). Some protest that cures and treatments for rare diseases are not pursued due to the lack of profit potentional. Detractors of this criticism make a utilitarian argument, saying that the fact that profit potential directs investment in treatment for diseases that afflict the many individuals rather than few individuals is a good thing, since it results in alleviating the greater amount of human suffering. Utilitarianism is a suggested theoretical framework for morality, law and politics, based on quantitative maximisation of some definition of utility for society or humanity. ...

A 2005 study in the journal Nature surveyed 3247 US researchers who were all publicly funded (by the NIH). Out of the scientists questioned, 15,5% admitted to altering design, methodology or results of their studies due to pressure of an external funding source. In a contemporary study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a similar proportion of the 107 medical research institutions questioned was willing to allow pharmaceutical companies sponsoring research to alter manuscripts according to their interests before they were submitted for publication. Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable general-purpose scientific journals, first published on November 4, 1869. ... The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society with the highest impact factor for a general medical journal. ...

See also

• Bayh-Dole Act

The Bayh-Dole Act or Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act is a United States legislation of 1980. ...

References

• Martinson, Brian C. et al. (2005): "Scientists behaving badly". Nature Vol.435, p.737-738.
• Mello, Michelle M. et al. (2005): "Academic Medical Centers' Standards for Clinical-Trial Agreements with Industry". New England Journal of Medicine Vol.352, p2202-2210.

External links

• COS Funding Opportunities The Community of Science (COS) Funding Opportunities Database
• Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006) The European Unions's programme for funding and promoting research at the European level
• CORDIS - the official website of the European Unions's programme for funding and promoting research This website contains comprehensive information on research projects already funded in addition to plans for future funding of research by the EU.
• Researchresearch.com "Newspaper for the research world"
• Thomas, Steve (2004), "The Future of Research and Development in the UK Gas Industry", PSIRU, University of Greenwich, UK. [3] - case study of an industry's R&D funding