The Academy of Radiology Research has resorted to a creative tactic in a bid to halt the decline in public funding for science: It showed Congress a picture of how much the nation earns from the government’s research dollar.

Every $100 million invested in research by the National Institutes of Health, according to the R&D consulting firm Battelle, generates almost six patents. At the National Science Foundation $100 million generates more than 10. At the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering — which finances research in radiology — it produces almost 25 patents. And these patents sparked $578.2 million worth of additional R&D further downstream.