What difference does it make whether a country such as Canada supports basic science, as long as its industry is ready to benefit from the technological spin-offs of basic science performed elsewhere?

只要工业能从别的国家基础研究的副产品中获益，加拿大这样的国家注重基础研究与否有什么区别呢？

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Solving that would turn out to be one of the greatest technological spin-offs of the second world war.

ECONOMIST: The middle age of the transistor

What is more, in addition to its direct returns, NASP also will provide technological spin-offs of virtually incalculable value to other civilian and military applications.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The National Aerospace Plane

All this is important to the argument that space programmes have technological spin-offs on Earth though experience in the West suggests that it is often cheaper to acquire such technology directly, rather than in such a roundabout way.

ECONOMIST: China in space