Comment by chneu

Nearly everything you use on a daily basis came from university research. Heck, most of what we know about the universe comes from university research.

Every piece of technology is because of collaboration between taxpayer funding and universities. It is relatively rare nowadays for a private business to create anything truly new without some form of university support. Or it's built on top of university research.

If you like new knowledge you like these types of programs. They make modern life possible.

Universities provide staff, equipment and expertise while the government(and often private enterprise) provide the funding.