Companies funded 4.9% of US academic research in 2011, down less than 0.3% from 2010, finds a report published on 19 September by the US National Science Foundation (see go.nature.com/kc4g24). Medical sciences received the most industry money, at 39%; biology received 11%, agricultural sciences 5% and environmental sciences 4%. Businesses including pharmaceutical, electronics and food-manufacturing firms fund academic research in part to establish relationships that allow “first pick of the good grad students”, says study co-author Brandon Shackelford, owner of Twin Ravens Consulting in Austin, Texas.