Funding of science

Research funding is a term loosely covering all funding for scientific research, in the areas of natural science, technology, in addition to social science. Different methods can be used to disburse funding, but the term often connotes funding obtained through a competitive process, in which potential research projects are evaluated as well as only the almost promising get funding. this is the often measured via Gross home expenditure on R&D GERD.

Most research funding comes from two major sources, corporations through research and development departments and government primarily carried out through universities and specialized government agencies; often requested as research councils. A smaller amount of scientific research is funded by charitable foundations, especially in version to development cures for diseases such(a) as cancer, malaria, and AIDS.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, more than 60% of research and development in scientific and technical fields is carried out by industry, and 20% and 10% respectively by universities and government. Comparatively, in countries with less GDP such(a) as Portugal and Mexico, the industry contribution is significantly lower. The government funding proportion inindustries is higher, and it dominates research in social science and humanities. In commercial research and development, any but the almost research-oriented corporations focus more heavily on near-term commercialization possibilities rather than "blue-sky" ideas or technologies such as nuclear fusion.

Methodology to measure science funding

The guidelines for R&D data collections are laid down in the Frascati Manual published by the OECD. In the publication, R&D denotes three type of activity: basic research, applied research and experimental development. This definition does not fall out innovation but it may feed into the contemporary process. Business sector innovation has a dedicated OECD manual.  

The most frequently used measurement for R&D is Gross home expenditure on R&D GERD. GERD is often represented in GERD-to-GDP ratios, as it provides for easier comparisons between countries. The data collection for GERD is based on reporting by performers. GERD differentiates according to the funding sector business, enterprise, government, higher education, private non-profit, rest of the world and the sector of performance all funding sectors with the exception of rest of the world as GERD only measures activity within the territory of a country. The two may coincide for example when government funds government performed R&D.

Government funded science also may be measured by the Government budget appropriations and outlays for R&D GBAORD/ GBARD. GBARD is a funder-based method, it denotes what governments committed to R&D even if final payment might be different. GERD-source of funding-government and GBARD are not directly comparable. On data collection, GERD is performer based, GBARD is funder. The level of government considered also differs: GERD should include spending by all levels of the government federal – state – local, whereas GBARD excludes the local level and often lacks state level data. On geographic coverage, GERD takes into account performance within the territory of a country whereas GBARD also payments to the Rest of the world.  

Comparisons on the effectiveness of both the different advice of funding and sectors of performance as alive as their interplay have been made. The analysis often boils down to if public and private finance show crowding-in or crowding-out patterns.