and sport fisheries resources management. 

 This Natural Resources function also in- 

 cludes a multi-resource R&D effort which is 

 defined as the earth observation program of 

 NASA and the sea grant program of NOAA. 



(6) Energy Development and Conversion, 



which consists of subfunctions related to 

 four sources of energy — nuclear, fossil fuels, 

 solar and geoihermal — and to one category for 

 other energy R&D. Nuclear energy activities 

 are concentrated in the AEC programs 

 related to reactor development and safety, 

 controlled thermonuclear research, and 

 nuclear materials production, fossil fuel 

 research is composed of coal, petroleum, and 

 oil shale R&D efforts supported by the 

 Department of the Interior. Both solar and 

 geothermal energy subfunctions are 

 represented by the NSF projects in these 

 areas. The other energy development and 

 conversion subfunction is made up of 13 

 programs including AEC's applied energy 

 technology program, the NSF's energy 

 research and technology program, and 

 Interior's energy conservation and analysis 

 program. 



(7) Education, is composed of several HEW 

 programs including the National Institutes 

 of Education, the Office of Education, and 

 the Office of Human Development; and the 

 NSF programs of Scientific Education Im- 

 provement and Institutional Improvement. 

 Educational R&D is spread among a wide 

 range of efforts, including the development 

 of improved curricula and individualized 

 instructional materials, better understand- 

 ing of the learning process, and the motiva- 

 tion of disadvantaged children. i-' 



Basic research, applied research, 

 and development in civilian R&D 



Federal obligations for R&D in civilian areas 

 are directed primarily to basic and applied 

 research rather than to development (figure 2- 

 11), a distribution pattern quite different from 

 the defense and space sectors described below 

 and from the overall national R&Deffort (figure 

 2-6). In 1974, funds for research accounted for 

 72 percent of all civilian R&D obligations by the 



Figure 2-11 



Federal Obligations for Civilian R&D, 

 by Character of Work, 1970 and 1974 



(Millions of Dollars) 



1970 1974 1970 1974 1970 1974 



Basic Applied Development 



research research 



*3lGNP implicit price deflators used to convert current dollars to constant 1967 dollars. 

 SOURCf: National Science Foundation. 



1^ For information on the R&D programs in the other five 

 areas of the civilian sector, see An Analysis of Federal R&D 

 Funding by Function, 1969-75, National Science Foundation, 

 (NSF 74-313). 



Federal Government, with 45 percent going for 

 applied research and 27 percent for basic 

 research. A comparison of 1970 obligations with 

 those of 1974 indicates, however, a shift toward 

 greater emphasis on development and applied 

 research and relatively less on basic research. 

 Between 1970-74, Federal obligations in current 

 dollars for development and applied research 

 rose by 72 percent and 64 percent, respectively, 

 compared with a 36 percent increase for basic 

 research (figure 2-11). 



Federal obligations for civilian basic research 

 are concentrated in a few functional areas; 83 

 percent of these obligations in 1974 were in the 

 areas of health, natural resources, and the 

 science and technology base. Of these three 

 areas, only one — health — had funding increases 

 between 1970-74 for basic research which were 



43 



