PART II 

 INTRODUCTION 



The agency submissions contained in Part I 

 illustrate great diversity in the financing, man- 

 agement, and conduct of basic research and its 

 relation to Federal missions. There are, however, 

 some cross-cutting trends and problems. This part 

 of the report is designed to provide an overview 

 of these trends and problems as they affect agen- 

 cy research operations, federally funded basic 

 research performers, and the various fields of sci- 

 ence (for more detail on the contents of Part 11, 

 see the last three subheadings of this introduction 

 beginning with "Problems in the Conduct of Basic 

 Research"). In order to supplement the material 

 in Part I, Part II also draws upon the responses to 

 questions and issues provided to the Board by the 

 agencies (see description of methodology in Ap- 

 pendix C). It also utilizes statistical information 

 on Government- and nongovernment-supported 

 R&D regularly collected by the National Science 

 Foundation.! While the primary purpose of this 

 report is not quantitative analysis, selected Gov- 

 ernment-wide and national data are presented in 

 order to give perspective to the agency comments 

 on the support and conduct of basic research. 



Trends in Federal Support 



The data on Federal obligations and expendi- 

 tures for basic research are subject to substantial 

 limitations (described in the Overview section of 

 this report). Nevertheless, they provide a suffi- 

 ciently reliable basis for analyzing the compara- 

 tive roles played by agencies and research per- 

 formers and how the various fields of science 

 have fared. They also help put into perspective 

 the trends in funding levels over the years. The 

 Board has not attempted in this report to analyze 

 the causes for or correlations in funding trends, 

 but offers the latest information available to it for 

 the use of those concerned with basic research 

 funding decisions. 



'To the extent possible, use is made in Part II of Ihc statis- 

 tical tables and analyses in Federal Funds for Research. De- 

 vehpmenl. and Other Scienlilic Activities (hereinafter re- 

 ferred to as Federal Funds). The primary focus is on data 

 for Federal obligations through FY 1977 (as estimated at the 

 time of preparation of this report). For comparison purposes, 

 estimates are included for FY 1978. along with the President's 

 budget request for FY 1979 (Appendix K). In some cases, 

 particularly for certain aspects of industrial basic research ac- 

 tivities (Chapter 2), expenditure data for FY 1975 are used 

 because they are the latest available from industry. 



Total R&D Obligations and Basic Research 



The trends in federally supported basic research 

 generally follow those of total R&D obligations. 

 Thus, basic research funding, obligations, and 

 budget proposals, in current dollars, have enjoyed 

 a fairly constant growth over the 1968-1977 pe- 

 riod, during which total Federal R&D obligations 

 in current dollars increased from $15,921 million 

 to an estimated $24,465 million, or 54 percent (see 

 Figure 1 and Table 1). During this same period, 

 basic research grew 60 percent, rising from $1,721 

 million to $2,755 million. Basic research enjoyed 

 an average annual growth rate in Federal support 

 of 4.3 percent from 1968 to 1976, but in constant 

 (1972) dollars decreased by 1.8 percent annually. 

 Current-dollar growth rate escalated sharply in 

 1977 (13.6 percent), and the President's 1978 



Figure 1-Federal R&D obligations, by character 

 of work, FY 1968-78 



($ Billions) 



30 



Current Dollars 

 Constant 1974 Dollars^ 



Applied Research 



1 



J L 



J I I L 



1968 



70 



72 74 



Fiscal Year 



76 



78 



(est.) 



Based on GNP implicit price deflator with estimates for fiscal 

 years 1977 and 1978. 



SOURCE: Division of Science Resources Studies/STIA/National 

 Science Foundation. 



INTRODUCTION 235 



