Highlights

1. Spending on science and technology (S&T) by federal government departments and agencies in 2009/2010 increased by 9.8% on a current dollar basis, to $11.6 billion from the $10.6 billion reported in 2008/2009 (table 1-1).
2. Accounting for inflation, federal government S&T spending reached a high of $9.8 billion in 2009/2010 , an increase of 46.5% over the ten-year period from 1999/2000 to 2009/2010 (table 1-1).
3. In 2009/2010, the majority, $7.5 billion or 64%, of federal S&T spending was dedicated to research and development (R&D) activities, while related scientific activities (RSA) accounted for the remainder (table 1-5).
4. About one-half ($5.8 billion) of the 2009/2010 expenditures on S&T activities was performed by federal government departments and agencies. Over half (53%) of this expenditure was directed to RSA, with the remainder being spent on R&D (table 1-9).
5. Over the past decade, the federal government began directing a higher proportion of its S&T expenditures to extramural performers. In 1998/1999, about $4 of every $10 of federal S&T expenditures were paid to extramural performers. By 2009/2010, this proportion had increased to about $5 (table 3-1).
6. In 2009/2010, federal departments and agencies had a total of 38,968 full-time equivalent positions engaged in S&T activities. Of these positions, 17,896 were classified as scientific and professional, 9,577 as technical and 11,495 as other positions engaged in support activities (table 4-5).