I cannot agree more with the article  The Price of Forgoing Basic Research of Bill Buxton (Principal Scientist at Microsoft Research) on BusinessWeek.

An excerpt:

“But since about 1970, we have been on a path where industry’s investment in basic research has been in decline. At the same time, there has been a significant shift toward applied, “industry-relevant” research within academia. I believe that these trends do not augur well for the future of industry, academia, or society as a whole.”

“The real question is not Can I afford to invest in research? It is, How can I afford not to?”