BASIC RESEARCH IN INDUSTRY 



Expenditures for basic research in industry are 

 shown in figure 33. In current dollars, total basic 

 research expenditures increased by 3 percent 

 over the period 1968-72; in constant 1958 

 dollars, the decline in overall funding was 14 per- 

 cent between 1068-72, which included a 16-per- 

 cent reduction in Federal funding and a 13-per- 

 cent decline in industrial support. 



Some 75 percent of all industrial basic research 

 was performed by four industries in 1970: 

 chemicals and allied products (36 percent); elec- 

 trical equipment and communication (24 per- 

 cent); aircraft and missiles (10 percent); and 

 petroleum refining and extraction (5 percent)." 

 There is considerable difference among these 

 industries in the percentage of total R&D which 

 is devoted to basic research. The chemical indus- 

 try in 1970 devoted 12 percent of its R&D to 

 basic research, as compared with 3 percent for 

 the electrical equipment industry, 4 percent for 

 the petroleum industry, and 1 percent for the 

 aircraft and missiles industry. 



The principal fields of science in which basic 

 research is performed are shown in figure 34 for 

 the 1967-70 period, the only years for which 

 such data are available. As shown, the fields of 

 chemistry and engineering receive almost 65 

 percent of all basic research expenditures. A 

 major change over the 4-year period was the 

 reduction of basic research in the fields of phys- 

 ics and astronomy; although the available data 

 do not permit the separation of these two fields, 

 expenditures for physics presumably accounted 

 for most of the joint activities of these fields. In 

 respect to the industries involved, basic re- 

 search performed by the chemical industry 

 accounted for almost 80 percent of the life 

 science and 46 percent of physical science 

 expenditures of all industries. The bulk of 



Figure 33 



Industrial Basic Research Expenditures, 



by Source, 1960-72 



(Millions of Dollars) 

 700 



Federal Government 



. 



1960 '62 '64 '66 'BS 70 



(a) GNP price deflator was used to convert current to constant dollars. 

 SOURCE National Science Foundation 



72 (est.) 



engineering research expenditures were by elec- 

 trical equipment industries (41 percent) and air- 

 craft and missiles industries (21 percent). 



" National Science Foundation, Reiearch and Development in 

 Imiiiitry. 1970. NSF 72-309. 



44 



