We may disagree on how technology and innovation should be measured, but we can at least agree on how to measure money.

Here's a nice database of the US NSF's budget history from FY1951. Conveniently, in 2009 somebody already did the work to account for inflation, so here it is again in 2013 dollars.

So clearly, US government investment in technology, science, and research has increased tremendously over most of the history of the NSF. The NSF is not the only government scientific funding agency, but its well being is indicative of overall US investment in science and technology. There are also other agencies such as DARPA, NIH, and the many national labs.

Now, what is the NSF? It was founded as a US government agency to support fundamental research and education in 1950, in response to perceived weakness in technology and science following WW2 and the looming Cold War. Unlike most other agencies, the NSF does not operate labs nor conduct its own research.

Back to WW2, it was recognized that technology and science were of key importance. The US established the Office of Scientific R&D (OSRD) in 1941, which ended up working on a wide variety of projects including the proximity fuze, medicine, etc. including many aspects of the Manhattan Project. The head of the OSRD was Vannevar Bush, formerly president of MIT. After the war, Vannevar Bush became instrumental in the creation of the NSF, in addition to serving as scientific advisor.

• Vannevar Bush, As we may think, originally published in The Atlantic, 1945.

• Proceedings of the IEEE, Volume:96 Issue:12, Electrical Engineering Hall of Fame: Vannevar Bush.

• Nat. Academy of Sciences, Vannevar Bush, by J.B. Wiesner.