[bane]

At some point most of the sources of funding for most research, there's some expectation of ROI at some point. This isn't true obviously for very basic research, but even then there's a hope that the process of exploring the deep unknown produces some practical output. For example, the process of building and designing the LHC produced various advances in fields as far ranging as management theory to precision machining and CAD design.

For the organizations and countries involved, this helps provide for an advanced industrial base that continues to build and drive an ecosystem that supports powerful economic engines.

[selectron]

If you just want ROI, you are better off spending your money elsewhere. This is evidenced by the lack of money most companies put into scientific research. Further the gains of science are in general hard to profit off of. (http://www.therichest.com/business/they-could-have-been-bill...)

Another major reason governments fund research is to produce people with PhDs. This is why the apprenticeship structure of academia is so sticky, and why in order to get tenure professors have to graduate students.