A recent National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics report has found a 9 percent decline in federal funding for research and development, facilities and related equipment in fiscal year 2013.The National Science Foundation said Thursday the NCSES InfoBrief shows that federal agencies spent a total of $127 billion on R&D in 2013, compared with $141 billion in fiscal year 2012.
Meanwhile, federal funding for R&D activities at the Pentagon, which constituted half of all federal R&D funds in 2013, fell by 14 percent to $10 billion during the period, while R&D obligations at NASA dropped by 3 percent.
Aside from the two agencies, NSF and the departments of Health and Human Services and Energy also experienced a decline in federal R&D spending, according to the report.
The InfoBrief predicts that federal funding for R&D, fixed equipment and facilities in fiscal years 2014 and 2015 will respectively increase by 3 percent and 2 percent.
