How to measure the returns on R&D spending

Forget the glorious successes of past breakthroughs--the real justification for research investment is what we get for our money. MIT Technology Review You can read more from the series here. Given the draconian cuts to US federal funding for science, including the administration's proposal to reduce the 2026 budgets of the National Institutes of Health by 40% and the National Science Foundation by 57%, it's worth asking some hard-nosed money questions: How much we be spending on R&D? How much value do we get out of such investments, anyway? To answer that, it's important to look at both successful returns and investments that went nowhere. How Trump's policies are affecting early-career scientists--in their own words Every year, we recognize extraordinary young researchers on our Innovators Under 35 list. Recent honorees told us how they're faring under the new administration.