On Oct. 7, 2009 at the National Medal of Science ceremony, President Barack Obama announced he would raise R&D’s spending as a percent of gross domestic product to 3%. The current R&D spending as a share of GDP is 2.62%.

“By investing in education, funding basic and applied research, and spurring private innovation, we will devote 3% of our gross domestic product to research and development. That's more than at any point in recent history,” Obama says.

This is following Obama’s announcement the previous week, when the president said $5 billion in grant awards under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will fund cutting-edge medical research in every state across America.

Source: The White House