Study Demonstrates Importance of Publicly-funded Science to Industry

“Regardless of how the data are arranged, it is quite clear that public science plays an overwhelming role in the science base of U.S. industry.” --"The Increasing Linkage Between U.S. Technology and Public Science”

The value of publicly-funded basic science to industry is extolled in a March 17 study performed for NSF by CHI Research, Inc., an international consulting firm. “The Increasing Linkage Between U.S. Technology and Public Science” examines the connection between U.S. industrial patents and their citation of publicly-funded research papers. The study, which runs 17 pages of text and numerous charts, has been submitted to the magazine “Research Policy” for publication.

“Among both scientists and economists it is widely accepted that public science...is a driving force behind high technology and economic growth,” the paper says. “This report provides quantitative evidence of both the magnitude and the direction of that force, based on tracing tens of thousands of references from recent United States patents to the scientific research papers they cite.” The study is based on analysis of references to scientific papers on the front pages of U.S. patents issued in 1987-1988 and 1993-1994.

According to the report, “seventy-three percent of the papers cited by U.S. industry patents are public science, authored at academic, governmental, and other public institutions” worldwide. Across all countries and technologies reviewed, the paper finds that “there has been a steady increase in science linkage for at least two decades.” That linkage is growing fastest in the U.S.: “References from U.S. patents to U.S.-authored research papers have tripled over a six year period.”

The report finds this linkage of patents to science papers to be very subject-specific, being strongest in biological and medical technologies. It is less pronounced in physics, although physics, along with chemistry, engineering, and biomedicine, is one of the four most heavily-cited scientific categories for 1993-1994 patents. For research papers in physics, NSF support is cited most often and the Navy is second, followed by the Department of Energy, the Air Force, DARPA, the Army, NASA, and DOD in general.

This “strong reliance of U.S. industry patents on public sector science,” the paper remarks, “implies that U.S. industry is far from self-sufficient in science.” It concludes “that public science plays an essential role in supporting U.S. industry, across all the science-linked areas of industry, amongst companies large and small, and is a fundamental pillar of the advance of U.S. technology.”

The authors believe their analysis “would be useful evidence in arguing the case for governmental support of science.” As the appropriations process gets underway, members of the physics community might want to make note of this. See FYIs #68 , 69 for help on how to contact your Members of Congress.

Further information about CHI Research and its products can be found on the CHI HomePage at: http://www.chiresearch.com