Research in academia is approached though the pure goal of knowing the unknown or in the sense to ascertain a solution to a particular personal problem regardless of the monetary reward. The research may have a deeper personal connection to those academic scientists working closely to advance their knowledge in the field and each breakthrough brings them a step closer to self-fulfillment.

This can be contrasted to industrial research where the topic of study is always monetarily driven even though it may not be the most important for society. This can be seen today in the big pharma companies focus on short term “illnesses “ or a prescription an individual would have to take every day for a better quality of life compared to life saving vaccines. Looking at the big picture, vaccines could potentially save millions of lives, however, they are mostly (or a few) injection drugs that don’t see much reoccurring use within a population which directly affects their profitability. Therefore, a simple cough medication, or even better, cholesterol medication of which a patient takes to cure a non-life threatening condition are greatly favored due to their prevalence and “need” for a more comfortable lifestyle.

(Duplicate post since it failed to register. Originally posted September 18, 2017 at 3:07 pm)