[Science] 2012 US Federal R&D Spending

Posted by DrTechno on March 30, 2012 10:13 pm 2

Neil deGrasse Tyson - We Stopped Dreaming (Episode 1) (via Scrunchthethird)

Is the US spending enough money on science? The renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has been arguing that we should increasing science spending by giving NASA more money. This would, in turn, be a huge economic driver for America. Currently NASA's budget is about half of one percent of all US spending. What would happen, Dr. Tyson pondered, if we doubled that amount to a whopping 1%?

He argues for money for NASA because it uniquely inspires and captures the imaginations of future scientists and engineers. But what about other science funding? Science funding in the US occurs across the spectrum from the Department of Defense to the National Institutes of Health to the Department of Transportation. How much does the US spend on research and development overall?

According to Battelle, the US will spend $126 billion on R&D in 2012. This only amounts to 3.3% of the US budget of $3.78 trillion. This doesn't include all the spending you might expect- NASA's total budget is about $17.7 billion, but Battelle's analysis finds only $9.2 billion will go to R&D.

Is 3.3% too low for government R&D spending? Iif I were playing a government simulation game, I would peg my science budget at at least a solid 10% and the flying cars would come flying in. However, I might not be the most qualified to be making such decisions since, in such a game, I would probably try to take over the world.