The National Science Foundation of the USA — A Contrast
Imitation is the best form of flattery. If only we can imitate this in Nigeria
The National Science Foundation funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering. It does this through grants, and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, K-12 school systems, businesses, informal science organizations and other research organizations throughout the United States. The Foundation accounts for about one-fourth of federal support to academic institutions for basic research.
NSF receives approximately 40,000 proposals each year for research, education and training projects, of which approximately 11,000 are funded. In addition, the Foundation receives several thousand applications for graduate and postdoctoral fellowships.
The agency operates no laboratories itself but does support National Research Centers, user facilities, certain oceanographic vessels and Antarctic research stations. The Foundation also supports cooperative research between universities and industry, US participation in international scientific and engineering efforts, and educational activities at every academic level.
As for History of Funding, here is a snippet
From 1994 to 1998, NSF, DARPA, and NASA funded six digital library projects in the $30 million Phase 1 of the Digital Libraries Initiative. In 1999, the $55 million Phase 2 (DLI-2) included 36 projects supported by NSF, DARPA, the National Library of Medicine, the Library of Congress, NASA, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, with participation from the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution, to extend and develop innovative digital library technologies and applications
Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google it must be said were recipients of the Phase 1 of the Digital Literary Initiative quoted above and the project they got funding for was, you guessed right, Google.
We can do this if we choose to.
