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Figure 1. (click on the image to view
or download a full-page PDF version of the chart)
Figure 2. (click on the image to view
or download a full-page PDF version of the chart)
Trends in Total R&D
Table 1 summarizes congressional
action on R&D funding by agency. Figure 1 compares agencies' FY 2001
R&D budgets to FY 2000 funding levels and to the President's request;
Figure 2 shows funding trends for R&D in selected agencies from 1990
to 2001, and Table A shows inflation-adjusted
funding histories for the major R&D funding agencies over the past
decade. (Detailed historical tables and other supplementary material are
available on the AAAS R&D Web site.)
- In FY 2001, total federal support of R&D exceeds $90 billion
for the first time, thanks to a record dollar increase of $7.6 billion
over FY 2000. Because of increases across the entire breadth of R&D
programs in the federal portfolio, federal R&D totals $90.9 billion
in FY 2001, an increase of 9.1 percent (see Table
1). This total far exceeds the request for $85.4 billion,
primarily because Congress allocates far more for R&D in the Department
of Defense (DOD) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the two
largest R&D funding agencies, than requested.
- Nearly every major R&D funding agency receives a substantial
increase over FY 2000, and most receive more than the Clinton Administration
request (see Figure 1). Of the major
R&D funding agencies, only the National Science Foundation (NSF)
receives less for R&D than requested, but NSF still receives 13.2
percent more for R&D than in FY 2000.
-
Nondefense R&D
increases by more than 11 percent to reach $45.3 billion, a boost
of $4.6 billion. In addition to a 14.6 percent or $2.5 billion increase
in NIH R&D, there are substantial increases for other nondefense agencies.
R&D in the Department of Energy (DOE) increases by 12.3 percent to
reach $8.0 billion, including a 13.8 percent boost to programs in the
Office of Science; NSF R&D increases by 13.2 percent to $3.2 billion,
with substantial increases for all the research directorates; and Science,
Aeronautics, and Technolgy (SAT) R&D in the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) increases by nearly 11 percent.
- Defense R&D increases by a smaller but still substantial 7.0
percent to $45.5 billion, bringing defense and nondefense R&D
near parity for the first time in 20 years. Although defense R&D
has exceeded nondefense R&D every year since the defense buildup
of the early 1980s, the gap has narrowed in recent years. DOD basic
research ("6.1") increases by nearly 13 percent, while
applied research ("6.2") jumps by nearly 8 percent. Although
the Clinton Administration requested a steep cut in DOD's "S&T"
investments (basic and applied research plus exploratory development),
Congress awarded an 8.0 percent increase (see Figure
1).
- In his budget request, President Clinton placed a strong emphasis
on achieving a better balance among science and engineering disciplines.
A series of large increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
has resulted in an emphasis on biomedical and life sciences research
in recent years within the federal research portfolio, and in response
the FY 2001 budget proposed large increases for R&D programs in
non-life sciences disciplines. Although NIH receives a nearly 15 percent
increase for the third year in a row, non-biomedical research also wins
big this year. NSF, the only R&D funding agency responsible for
the entire range of science and engineering disciplines, with a particular
emphasis on fundamental research and non-life sciences disciplines,
receives the largest dollar increase in history. DOE's Science programs,
which support fundamental research in the physical sciences, receive
a 13.8 percent boost to $3.0 billion. As a result, nondefense R&D
excluding NIH increases by 8.9 percent in FY 2001, a smaller increase
than NIH but a sharp contrast to stagnant or declining funding in recent
years.
- The Clinton Administration's multi-agency initiatives do well in
FY 2001, though funding levels fall short of the dramatic increases
the Administration requested. The Administration's new Nanotechnology
initiative proposed to double funding for existing nanotechnology programs
from $247 million in FY 2000 to $495 million for new and continuing
programs in FY 2001; the final FY 2001 total is an estimated $418 million,
up 55 percent over last year. NSF's leading role was reduced from a
proposed $217 million to $150 million, but this still represents a more
than 50 percent boost over the $97 million FY 2000 funding level.
- The Information Technology R&D initiative also does well
in FY 2001: NSF's $215 million for IT Research, a key component of the
initiative, represents a dramatic jump from $90 million in FY 2000.
Total IT R&D spending should total $2.1 billion in FY 2001, an increase
of nearly 24 percent over FY 2000. The largest supporter of IT R&D
is DOE with $657 million, including substantial investments in both
its defense and science portfolios.
- Basic and applied research receive large increases in FY 2001 appropriations
(see Table 2). Federal support of basic
research, the majority of which is performed in the nation's colleges
and universities, increases by 11.8 percent or $2.2 billion to $21.2
billion. There are across-the-board increases for agencies' basic research-oriented
programs, including increases of greater than 10 percent for basic research
in NIH, NSF, and DOD. Total federal support of research (basic and applied)
is $41.2 billion in FY 2001, a jump of $4.7 billion or 12.8 percent
over FY 2000. Again, there are across-the-board increases to agencies'
research portfolios, with six agencies (NIH, NSF, DOE, DOD, NASA, DOT)
receiving increases greater than 10 percent.
- Nondefense R&D reaches an all-time high in FY 2001, the
fifth year in a row that it has increased in inflation-adjusted terms
(see Table A). Much of the recent increase,
however, has been due to steady growth in the NIH budget, including
increases of nearly 15 percent for three years in a row (see Figure
2). As a result, NIH R&D has become nearly as large as all other
nondefense agencies' R&D funding combined. Funding for nondefense
R&D excluding NIH has stagnated in recent years; after steady growth
in the 1980s, funding peaked in FY 1994 and then declined sharply as
a result of tight budget conditions in the mid-1990s. After hitting
bottom in FY 1996, small increases from FY 1997 through FY 2000 barely
kept pace with inflation. The FY 2001 increases for non-NIH agencies,
while large, just barely brings these agencies back to the funding levels
of the early 1990s.
- Most categories of R&D by function rise in FY 2001 (see
Table 3). Health and defense-oriented
R&D both rise by nearly $3 billion. General science R&D increases
by 13.5 percent to $6.2 billion because of large increases for NSF and
DOE's Science programs.
- The "21st Century Research Fund" rises by
12.1 percent in FY 2001 to $44.9 billion (see Table
1). Most of this increase is due to a 14.4 percent increase to the
total NIH budget, although there are increases for nearly all the programs
in the Fund. The Clinton Administration created the Fund to highlight
programs that it considers important to the nation's science and technology
enterprise. The Fund includes both R&D and non-R&D items while
excluding large parts of the federal R&D portfolio (primarily in
development). "FS&T," another alternative measure of the
federal investment in science and technology proposed by the National
Academy of Sciences, increases by 10.9 percent to $57.6 billion. (See
Appendix 1 for details.)
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