Total R&D expenditures in the United States are expected to increase about 2.5 percent from the $283.8 billion spent in 2003 to nearly $291 billion in 2004, according to the Battelle-R&D Magazine annual funding forecast.

      Government funding of scientific research and development will see the largest increase, while industrial support of R&D will increase only slightly in 2004, according to the closely watched forecast.

      The forecast, based on data supplied by the National Science Foundation, predicts:

      •Federal spending on R&D is expected to be $89.4 billion - an increase of 4.8 percent.

      •Industrial spending on R&D for 2004 is expected to increase less than a percentage point at .85 percent for a total of $181 billion.

      •Academia, and other non-profit R&D funding, is expected to increase an average of 7.6 percent to $20.3 billion.

      “The focus area of R&D appears to be shifting in the first half of the 21st century,” said Jules Duga, a Battelle senior researcher and co-author of the report. “R&D research now has a significant focus on nanotechnology, biotechnology and support of defense and homeland security. This is a shift from growth drivers in the mid- to late-1990s when R&D was dominated by pharmaceutical, software, telecommunications and semiconductor technologies,” he said.

"The federal outlook "

      Defense and homeland security will be the major drivers in the increase in federal R&D spending with the primary focus on developing tools for the war on terrorism and products and systems for soldiers.

      The effects of Sept. 11, 2001 continue to...

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