I just had a thought (shocking, I know)...
What if research scientists, engineers, R&D folks, from all over the globe, pool their respective governments grants into a big pile in order create a multi-national R&D effort?
I mean, just say that the US gives $25Billion to hydrogen-powered vehicle research, the UK does the same thing for IT'S R&D people, Australia does the same, Germany does the same, Japan does the same.