Technology Research Funding

Some of the most significant technological advances in our society have depended on funding to make them a reality. For the most part, research funding comes from governments and usually stands at somewhere between 1.5% and 3% of GDP in developed countries.

However, it can be even higher than this in more progressive countries. Of course, not all of this money is dedicated to technology funding. Science and social science research projects also get their fair share.

In fact, competition can be fierce both between and within disciplines when it comes to securing funding. In general, securing funding is a competitive process where the most suitable applicants get the money.

Most technology funding comes from corporations and from government. Corporations generally fund research that is carried out in private research and development laboratories, while government funding usually goes to universities and government agencies. So, private organizations will usually look to private companies, and not government, for technology funding.

In truth, the majority of technology funding in the United States is provided by corporations for research within industry.

About 20% of funding goes to universities and 10% to government agencies.

In the United States, about 20% of its overall funding goes towards defense related technological research—higher than any other country in the world. However, it should be pointed out that this is down significantly. In the 1980s, the figure stood at about 30%. Currently, about 36% of government funding goes towards medical research.

There are some fundamental differences between technology funding made available by the government and technology funding made available by private corporations. Government funding is more likely to be made available for research into technologies that will help the public good. For example, medical technologies have the potential to impact every citizen at some point in their lives.

However, for the most part, private funding is concerned with profit. A private corporation is unlikely to fund technology research unless it thinks that the research will, somehow, profit it in the future.

Many would argue that privately funded research projects are more efficient than publicly funded research projects. However, there is little real evidence to back this up.

So, technology research projects carried out by universities and government agencies will usually be in the interests of the greater public good of that country. Meanwhile, private technology research projects focus more on developing and uncovering technologies that will build profit, whether in the short-term or the long-term.

Most organizations will need to go through the grant application process to secure such funds, however it has been known for funders to approach organizations and offer support for research on certain areas.

 

Written by: Frank J Klein - CIO

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