US Industry Drives Growth in R&D Spending

WASHINGTON, DC, June 16 -- US research and development spending reached an estimated $220.6 billion in 1998, according to a report from the National Science Foundation, with industry, not government, leading the way. Adjusted for inflation, this represents an increase of 5.3 percent over the estimated $205.6 billion spent on R&D in 1997. Industry has provided the largest share of financial support for R&D in the US since 1980, said Steven Payson, author of the report.
Industry--including industry-administered federally funded research and development centers--is expected to conduct 75.1 percent of the nation's total R&D in 1998. 85 percent of the funding for this R&D will come from industry itself; federal funding will account for the remaining 15 percent (down from an all-time high of 32 percent in 1987).