I recently caught the movie 8 Below, the story of a team of sled dogs that are abandoned and subsequently rescued by scientists in Antarctica. It's about as silly as it sounds - perfect summer fare, particularly for those younger than age 10.

I loved it, of course. But then, I'm a sucker for movies in which the National Science Foundation plays a starring role (the rescue team is funded by the NSF). You see, from what I can tell, the NSF is one of the few organizations that's fighting, er, doggedly to reverse one of the most worrying trends in science and engineering: the R&D funding crisis.

As noted in previous columns, last July and in 2004, healthy R&D funding is key to a healthy economy. Despite some bright spots, however, R&D funding in this country is in serious trouble.

First, the good news: After years of flatlining and downright decreases, the NSF's 2007 budget increased a whopping 7.8% over 2006, adding $439 million to top out at $6 billion. Better still, some $16 million of that funding is earmarked for professional development of teachers and science educators, and $803 million is part of the NSF's involvement in Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD), a multiagency initiative that seeks to ensure U.S. leadership in networking and information technologies by investing in long-term scientific and engineering research.

NITRD, funded by the American Competitive Initiative, was announced by President Bush in January; it earmarks some $1.3 billion in new federal funding plus an additional $4.6 billion in R&D tax incentives toward scientific R&D, education and worker training.

It's all great stuff. But there's a catch: One of the reasons the feds are investing more heavily in R&D is that the private sector is investing less. The NSF estimates that private-sector funding has dropped by 18% from 2001 to 2003 (the last year in which statistics are available). And to be clear: 70% of annual U.S. R&D funding - $220 billion per year - comes from the private sector (see this NSF site for these and other statistics).

The bottom line? Single-digit increases in federal R&D investment, however laudable, can't make up for double-digit decreases in private-sector R&D investment. Tech companies are among those that have cut back most heavily: In recent years HP, Lucent, Microsoft and Sun all have announced decreases in R&D spending.