I dunno I still feel like government wastes more money and makes us less productive.
Look at all the amazing inventions throughout history that didn't need any help from government. Flight is a good example, the poor brothers who were passionate succeeded while those with all the government money and research in the world floundered.
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I would say that is engineering, application of basic research to solve a specific problem. The research I'm talking about is the blue sky research with no obvious application. Knowledge for the curious mind. This sort of research is often derided by politicians and popular media for being 'useless' and a waste of taxpayer money. However, it is the foundation upon which the engineering solutions are build upon, in many decades after the original useless research!
Edit: I agree there is a certain inefficiency with government funding, but in some sectors private groups can't or don't provide funding. In other sectors (hospitals and infrastructure), they shouldn't. My experience with government is from Australia and Netherlands. For example, In healthcare, in Australia we have a mix of public and private health insurance, but a baseline guaranteed universal medical healthcare. In the Netherlands, we have mandatory private health insurance (if you are working) at a basic level. But at lower income levels, the government pays for you. Health and medical services I would take the inefficient spending of the government over privatised healthcare, as it is a sector where the rules of the free market are not applicable (lack of choice and imbalance of power due to the fact you would be sick or dying...).