Highlights
- The study of economic returns to research and development (R&D) investment has developed over the past 30 years, and although there are
differences in estimates of the
exact levels of returns, the leading researchers in the field agree that R&D has a significant and important positive effect on economic growth and the overall standard of living.
- Research on the economic and
social effects of
science and engineering (S&E) research involves complex issues of measurement, analysis, and interpretation. Results are often approximations, not absolutes, and observed relationships are subject to change as society, the economy, and
science
change.
- Academic research plays a key role in enabling technological advances in the private sector, especially in medicine and electronics. According to one survey, approximately 10 percent of new products and
processes depend on
recent academic research. Another survey provides evidence that the association between academic and industrial research has been strongest in medicine and electronics. For example, in 1990, universities were responsible for 18 percent of all U.S.
patents dealing with genetic engineering and recombinant DNA, 16 percent of patents dealing with natural resins/peptides or proteins, and 12 percent of patents dealing with chemicals involving microbiology and molecular biology.
- There
often is a significant delay between the dissemination of fundamental knowledge and its eventual effect on industrial processes. One estimate of the delay is approximately 10 years for new knowledge in computer science and engineering and 20
years for new knowledge in S&E in general.
- The fast pace of recent scientific advances in areas such as information processing, communications, and biotechnology, as well as the wide variety of social effects that
these advances may
cause, has made the question of the effects of science and engineering on society extremely complex.
