Research funding can come from government, individuals, corporations, or foundations. It ranges from small microfinance to large-scale projects. The US military is the largest provider of research funding, while DARPA funds technological research. Other government organizations and private foundations also provide funding.
Research funding comes in many forms and covers many different types of research. Funds can be used for more traditional hard sciences, or so-called soft sciences, such as sociology or psychology. In general, research funding is a highly competitive industry, with several groups vying for rather limited sources of funding.
Research funding can come from the government, from individuals, or from corporations or foundations, it can range in amount, from small microfinance situations to huge ongoing funding situations for large-scale projects. Research funding is generally a large part of any country’s budget, with most nations allocating between 1% and 3% of their GDP to fund research and some nations, such as Sweden, allocating between 3% and 4% of their budget.
In the United States, there are many different organizations that offer research funding to different areas of study. The single largest provider of research funding is, without a doubt, the United States military, which funds projects across the science and social science spectrum. Often, Army-funded research doesn’t have an immediately obvious military application, but the Army tries to keep many different avenues of research open to explore potential applications that may not be apparent in the first place.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is a huge research organization, with an annual budget of over 3.2 billion US dollars (USD). DARPA funds all manner of technological research and has been a major driver of technological innovation since its formation in 1958, in response to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik. Many of the projects DARPA funded went on to find civilian uses, including the backbone that would eventually make way for the modern internet.
All of DARPA’s research is undertaken by outside organizations, which request funding from DARPA. As a result, DARPA can be an excellent source of research funding for technology-oriented studies. DARPA has a strategic plan and outlines the areas they are looking to fund. They also regularly post broad agency announcements, which are solicitations for offers. These solicitations can be found in the Federal Business Opportunities directory.
Other government organizations also offer funding in different areas and many of them also list their opportunities in the Federal Business Opportunities directory. For example, funding for health related research may be provided by the National Institutes of Health, while non-health related scientific research is covered by the National Science Foundation. Other nations have their own similar organizations, offering grants and funding opportunities along similar lines.
Many corporations or private foundations also provide research funding for areas of interest to them, usually in exchange for a substantial stake in any discovery, or the right of first refusal to purchase patents outright. Pharmaceutical companies, for example, can provide research funding to groups looking for new drugs, in exchange for the ability to buy patents for any discoveries made by researchers. Different foundations and corporations have their own funding application guidelines, which are usually available online or by calling a central directory.
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