According to a study by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of R&D spending at universities and colleges, total spending on science and engineering (S&E) R&D increased 4.3% (or 1.2%, adjusted for inflation) to $47.8 billion in fiscal 2006. Federally funded academic R&D spending in S&E increased 2.9% to $30.0 billion. However, this total represents a 0.1% decline after adjusting for inflation. In unadjusted percentages, state and local government funding for S&E R&D grew 2.5% to $3.0 billion and industry funding rose 5.8% to $2.4 billion. Funding from institutions posted the largest gain, up 9.7% to $9.1 billion, and funding from other sources, including nonprofit organizations, increased 4.2% to $3.2 billion. R&D spending for medical sciences ($15.8 billion) and biological sciences ($9.0 billion) grew 6.3% and 2.3% in fiscal 2006, respectively. Johns Hopkins University ($1.5 billion), the University of Wisconsin at Madison ($832 million) and the University of California at Los Angeles ($811 million) were the three highest R&D spending institutions.

Source: NSF