This brief piece, publishing by the Association of American Universities (aau.edu) has some excellent information on the importance of basic research, and the proportion of overall spending on it.

http://www.aau.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10828

Here is an article (and a link to data from the National Science Foundation) on the universities that receive the largest amounts of federal research dollars.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/27/universities-government-money_n_3165186.html

Which raises a couple of interesting questions: Should the universities receiving the highest numbers of research dollars also be those who have the best track record for commercializing technologies?  If not (and there are good reasons why that might not be the case), what should the criteria be for measuring successful expenditures?

Here is a sort article that relates to the material discussed this week and the course as a whole. Branson gives a short synopsis as to how business can be successful by looking at what what customers want and how to identify areas in the market that need innovation.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229393