Finalized US Budget 2012

In This Article:

- About the shifts in the U.S. Budget for 2012 and arguments between Democrats and Republicans 

It is almost Christmas, and we can relax and enjoy the holidays since we know the U.S. Budget for the fiscal year 2012 is now finalized, in the last minute. You can explore the Budget here, and the R&D summary is here:

• NSF - $7.03 billion total ($173.23 million increase), including $5.27 billion for research related activities and $167.06 million for major research equipment and facilitates construction.
• NIST - $750.8 million total ($727,000 increase).
• Energy and Water programs - $32 billion total ($328 million increase,) including $4.9 billion for DOE science research programs and $1.8 billion for renewable energy technology research.
• NIH - $30.7 billion total ($299 million increase), with the assumption that NIH will issue the same number of scientific research grants as in 2011.
• DOD research and development programs - $72.4 billion ($2.5 billion decrease).
• NASA - $17.8 billion total ($648 million decrease), including $5.1 billion for NASA Science program

So, what do we notice? The winners are NSF, NIST, NIH & DOE and the losers are DOD & Nasa. This result is particularly interesting and almost a bit surprising, since the republican opposition had strong arguments for cuts. In the past months President Obama was hard pressed by the opposition and many observers saw his will for his vision diminishing under the pressure of the republicans. It seemed that Obama had to make many comprises in the tug-of-war leading to the finalization of the budget. 

Hope again for Small Businesses 

Good news, the Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR) which expired on Dec. 16th this year received approval for continuing another 6 years. The SBIR together with the Small Business Technology Transfer program (STTR) give small businesses an increased role in the federal R&D enterprise, while preserving the bulk of federal R&D funding for basic research. In addition these programs allow for participation among small businesses with majority venture capital and private capital support in the program, increasing competition. Such incentivizing programs are vital for a healthy U.S. economy which heavily relies on our capability to innovate and transfer that IP successfully into business opportunities - exactly what the SBIR and STTR stand for. In light of this, I am pleased to read that these programs received a budget increase from 2.5% to 3.2% and 0.3% to 0.45% for the SBIR and STTR, respectively. 

~~~ With these good news, I wish you all happy Holidays! ~~~