On a global basis, spending on R&D has increased rapidly in recent years. In industrialized nations, R&D investment has risen from an average of about 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1980 to about 2.2% today. Vast numbers of university students around the globe are enrolled in engineering and scientific disciplines—many of them dreaming about potential rewards if their future research efforts become commercialized. Global research collaboration (between companies and between companies and universities) is booming, as is patenting; in fact, it is difficult for patent authorities in the U.S. and elsewhere to keep up with demand. Globalization and cross-national collaboration have such a dramatic effect on research and design that nearly one-half of all patents granted in America list at least one non-U.S. citizen as a coinventor. Major U.S. universities, like the University of Texas and the University of Wisconsin, as well as universities in such nations as China, Korea and Singapore, are eager to patent their inventions and to reap the benefits of commercialized research. Top research universities earn millions of dollars each in yearly royalties on their patents.

The “2011 Global R&D Funding Forecast,” published by Battelle and R&D Magazine, estimates global spending on research and development at $1.192 trillion for 2011, on a PPP or “purchasing power parity” basis (up from $1.156 trillion one year earlier). “PPP” means that the amounts are adjusted to account for the difference in the cost of living from nation to nation, relative to the United States. For example, PPP analysis finds that the cost of buying a given standard of living is considerably lower in China or India than it is in the U.S. Thus, $1 spent in China or India has more purchasing power than $1 spent in America.

The U.S. continues to lead the world in terms of total investment in research and development, at about $405.2 billion during 2011. However, it ranks behind many other industrialized nations in terms of R&D as a percent of GDP at 2.70%. For example, Japan’s annual spending on R&D has been more than 3.30% of GDP.  (However, the effects of the massive tsunami that hit many industries during early 2011 may cause R&D to drop temporarily.)  Massive research outlays by the U.S. federal government are a big boost. The proposed federal research budget for fiscal 2011 was $143.4 billion (up slightly from the previous year). Substantial federal research dollars are flowing into such areas as advanced automobile batteries, electronic patient health records, cancer research, nanotechnology, defense and renewable energy. Meanwhile, government research dollars feed projects at universities throughout the U.S. and at many types of private corporations.

Many of the 50 U.S. states have been active in funding local research efforts. California launched an interesting initiative in research funding at the state level when voters there approved, in November 2004, $3 billion in stem cell research funding. By 2007, California’s stem cell research program was slowly getting underway after combating lawsuits questioning the authority of the state government to create such a program. Other states across the U.S. quickly began discussing the potential of launching such initiatives of their own. In 2007, voters in the State of Texas approved a $3 billion cancer research initiative spearheaded by former cancer patient and globally recognized athlete Lance Armstrong. The end result may be heightened competition between tech-savvy states for leading-edge research efforts, at both corporate and university facilities.

Meanwhile, U.S. corporations continue to fund massive engineering projects and research budgets of their own. Top research investors among U.S. companies include Merck & Co., Pfizer, IBM, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and Intel.

Engineering, science and research and development provide large numbers of well-paying jobs in America and around the world. Officially, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 1.28 million people working in architectural and engineering services as of 2010.  In addition, as of its mid-2009 survey (the latest data available), the same source counts 1.31 million in life, physical and social sciences, and, as of 2010, it categorizes 620.3 million Americans as employed in scientific research and development positions (up from 614.1 million one year earlier).

Rapidly growing areas in U.S., Japanese, Indian and Chinese research include virtually all sectors within the energy field; from renewable energy such as solar power, to oil exploration technologies, to superconductivity, to nuclear generation. Renewable energy will continue to be a focus of global R&D, as will nuclear electric power generation.
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