Chapter: 4 Science & Engineering Indicators 93
R& D Agency-Performer Patterns
Over the years, one or two federal funding agencies have come to provide the bulk of R& D support to each of the different types of R& D performers. For example, federal R& D obligations to FFRDCs are dominated by funding from DOE and DOD, and the largest shares of R& D funds for academic and other nonprofit performers originate in HHS. (See text table 4-3 and appendix table 4-11.) Similarly, DOD, NASA, and DOE sponsor applied research within industrial firms and FFRDCs administered by either universities, industry, or nonprofit institutions. In contrast, nonprofit institutes and the research hospitals of the academic sector receive the bulk of their applied research and development funds from NIH.

The largest recipient of basic research funds (in terms of estimated 1993 total agency obligations) is universities and colleges; this sector is primarily funded by HHS (50 percent) and NSF (24 percent). DOE, as in its support of applied research and development, is the largest provider of basic research funds to FFRDCs under contract with universities. Federal obligations for basic research in private firms are concentrated (56 percent) in NASA's research budget. Federal in-house work on basic research programs is distributed among at least six major agencies, with the largest portions conducted by NIH and NASA laboratories. Smaller portions are performed by the Department of the Interior's Geological Survey and USDA's Agricultural Research Service. (See appendix table 4-13 and "Patterns of Federal Lab R&D Performance.")

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