One of the megatrends of the last 200 years has been a huge increase in the time horizon deemed acceptable for investment payoff.
Generally, humans aren't willing to forgo things today for a payoff more than about half a life-span away. Today, a true long-term investor considers the 30-year return on their investment.
An investment that won't make a return for 50 years or more mostly isn't worth making.
But, if you knew you would still be healthy enough to enjoy the profits in 90 or 100 years, you might be willing to invest for the even-longer term (historical trends suggest this to be true)
Government grants are fun and all, but the way you get thing going big is to get them funded by people who are hoping to profit, not just hoping to make the world better in some way