Basic research
Discovery and improvement of scientific knowledge
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Through Scientific method, Theory and Prediction
In addition to innovations, basic research serves to provide insights and public support of nature, possibly improving conservation efforts. Technological innovations may influence engineering concepts, such as the beak of a kingfisher influencing the design of a high-speed bullet train.
Overview
Basic research advances fundamental knowledge about the world. It focuses on creating and refuting or supporting theories that explain observed phenomena. Pure research is the source of most new scientific ideas and ways of thinking about the world. It can be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory; however, explanatory research is the most common.
Basic research generates new ideas, principles, and theories, which may not be immediately utilized but nonetheless form the basis of progress and development in different fields. Today's computers, for example, could not exist without research in pure mathematics conducted over a century ago, for which there was no known practical application at the time. Basic research rarely helps practitioners directly with their everyday concerns; nevertheless, it stimulates new ways of thinking that have the potential to revolutionize and dramatically improve how practitioners deal with a problem in the future.
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By country
China
Basic research in China is supported through public funding and national research programmes. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) serves as the principal agency funding investigator-driven fundamental research across the natural sciences and engineering.
China’s gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) has increased substantially since the early 2000s and exceeds 2% of GDP. National initiatives, including the former National Basic Research Program (973 Program), have supported priority areas of fundamental research.
European Union
At the European Union level, basic research is supported through multi-annual framework programmes for research and innovation, including Horizon Europe.
The European Research Council (ERC) provides competitive grants for frontier research based on scientific excellence.
India
In India, basic research is funded primarily through central government agencies and public research institutions. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) provide competitive grants supporting fundamental scientific research.
Research is also conducted in national laboratories operated by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which supports both basic and applied scientific investigation.
Japan
Basic research in Japan is supported primarily through public funding administered by national agencies and research councils. The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) provides competitive grants for investigator-driven fundamental research across disciplines through programs such as Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI).
National policy coordination for science and technology is conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which supports universities and national research institutes engaged in basic research. Japan’s gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) has remained among the highest globally as a share of GDP.
South Korea
In South Korea, basic research is funded primarily through government ministries and national research foundations. The National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), established under the Ministry of Science and ICT, administers competitive grants supporting fundamental research in science and engineering.
South Korea has maintained one of the highest levels of gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) relative to GDP among OECD countries. Public research universities and government research institutes play a central role in conducting investigator-led basic research.
United Kingdom
Basic research in the United Kingdom is funded primarily through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which coordinates the country’s research councils and supports investigator-led fundamental research across disciplines.
UK researchers participate in European framework programmes such as Horizon Europe, which fund collaborative and frontier research projects.
United States
In the United States, basic research is funded mainly by the federal government and done mainly at universities and institutes. As government funding has diminished in the 2010s, however, private funding is increasingly important.
Basic versus applied science
Applied science focuses on the development of technology and techniques. In contrast, basic science develops scientific knowledge and predictions, principally in natural sciences but also in other empirical sciences, which are used as the scientific foundation for applied science. Basic science develops and establishes information to predict phenomena and perhaps to understand nature, whereas applied science uses portions of basic science to develop interventions via technology or technique to alter events or outcomes. Applied and basic sciences can interface closely in research and development. The interface between basic research and applied research has been studied by the National Science Foundation.
A worker in basic scientific research is motivated by a driving curiosity about the unknown. When his explorations yield new knowledge, he experiences the satisfaction of those who first attain the summit of a mountain or the upper reaches of a river flowing through unmapped territory. Discovery of truth and understanding of nature are his objectives. His professional standing among his fellows depends upon the originality and soundness of his work. Creativeness in science is of a cloth with that of the poet or painter.
It conducted a study in which it traced the relationship between basic scientific research efforts and the development of major innovations, such as oral contraceptives and videotape recorders. This study found that basic research played a key role in the development in all of the innovations. The number of basic science research that assisted in the production of a given innovation peaked between 20 and 30 years before the innovation itself. While most innovation takes the form of applied science and most innovation occurs in the private sector, basic research is a necessary precursor to almost all applied science and associated instances of innovation. Roughly 76% of basic research is conducted by universities.
A distinction can be made between basic science and disciplines such as medicine and technology. They can be grouped as STM (science, technology, and medicine; not to be confused with STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics]) or STS (science, technology, and society). These groups are interrelated and influence each other, although they may differ in the specifics such as methods and standards.
The Nobel Prize mixes basic with applied sciences for its award in Physiology or Medicine. In contrast, the Royal Society of London awards distinguish natural science from applied science.