[Kell]

I think it's what he is saying. Govs take money from the private sector to develop long term things, that the private sector won't have the leverage and the pockets to do, but the aggregate of a whole nation can. What OP is saying is that we need both. States to do basic and fundamental long term research. And applied, short term, cost reducing research, to give what the gov helped discover to the public at large.