Industrial funding of R&D at U.S. universities recovered in 2005 from a three-year slump - but the federal government remained by far the largest source of academic R&D funding, according to a new report by the US National Science Foundation.
Industry spent $2.3 billion in fiscal 2005 on science and engineering R&D at US universities - up 7.7 per cent from the prior year, the NSF said. Still, industry funding represented just 5 per cent of total academic R&D funding.
By far the biggest spender on campus remains the US government, which supplied 64 per cent of the total, $45.8 billion bill for on-campus R&D. And among the many Washington agencies, the biggest spender continued in 2005 to be the Department of Health and Human Services, with more than half the total cost - reflecting the rapid build-up in cancer, genomics and other biological research funding. By contrast, the Defense Department and NASA spent less than a fifth as much as HHS.
Among the US campuses, the biggest single performer of contract research was Johns Hopkins University - again, reflecting the government's emphasis on biological research. But taken together, the various campuses of the vast University of California system garnered the most R&D funding.
But even those sums pale in comparison to the raw spending power of US industry in its own labs. A separate study 12 February, by consulting firm Burrill & Co., found that US industry spending on biopharmaceuticals R&D rose 8 per cent in 2006 to $55 billion.
Industry spent $2.3 billion in fiscal 2005 on science and engineering R&D at US universities - up 7.7 per cent from the prior year, the NSF said. Still, industry funding represented just 5 per cent of total academic R&D funding.
By far the biggest spender on campus remains the US government, which supplied 64 per cent of the total, $45.8 billion bill for on-campus R&D. And among the many Washington agencies, the biggest spender continued in 2005 to be the Department of Health and Human Services, with more than half the total cost - reflecting the rapid build-up in cancer, genomics and other biological research funding. By contrast, the Defense Department and NASA spent less than a fifth as much as HHS.
Among the US campuses, the biggest single performer of contract research was Johns Hopkins University - again, reflecting the government's emphasis on biological research. But taken together, the various campuses of the vast University of California system garnered the most R&D funding.
But even those sums pale in comparison to the raw spending power of US industry in its own labs. A separate study 12 February, by consulting firm Burrill & Co., found that US industry spending on biopharmaceuticals R&D rose 8 per cent in 2006 to $55 billion.
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