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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.