Philanthropy and Funding for the Creation of IP

I bet gifts play a large part in the funding of the creation of knowledge (directly or indirectly).  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is notable.   “Ordinary Joes” may get in the game through crowd-funding platforms.   And, heck, even the U.S. government participates through the National Institutes of Health along with the Bayh-Dole Act.   As the year closed, the Sacramento Bee as well as other media outlets published articles about the top ten charitable gifts noted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  

Almost all of the gifts are to universities.  At least two of the gifts are notable for readers of this blog.  (I am curious about them all.)  The first is the $133 million pledge to Cornell NYC Tech.  I have written about the “start-up” university Cornell NYC Tech, here.  Apparently, the pledge will be used to fund the Joan and Irwing Jacobs Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute.  The Institute:  

plays a key role within Cornell NYC Tech, by offering interdisciplinary dual degree programs in the applied information-based sciences, and by bringing a global perspective to research and education with an emphasis on technology transfer, commercialization and entrepreneurship.

The second gift is the $100 million pledge to the University of California, San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center:

The Sanford Center will accelerate development of drugs and cell therapies inspired by and derived from current human stem cell research; establishing, promoting and disseminating clinical trials and patient therapies that will help more quickly transform promise into reality.

Here is a list of the top 10 gifts:

1. Mark Zuckerberg: $992.2 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation

2. Phil Knight: $500 million pledge to the Oregon Health and Science University Foundation

3. Michael Bloomberg: $350 million pledge to Johns Hopkins University

4. Charles Johnson: $250 million pledge to Yale University

5. Stephen Ross: $200 million pledge to University of Michigan

6. Muriel Block: $160 million bequest to Yeshiva University

7. John Arrillaga: $151 million pledge to Stanford University

8. Irwin Jacobs: $133 million pledge to Cornell NYC Tech

9. Charles Munger: $110 million pledge to University of Michigan

10. David Koch: $100 million pledge to New York-Presbyterian Hospital

Frank McCourt: $100 million pledge to Georgetown University

Ronald Perelman: $100 million pledge to Columbia Business School

T. Denny Sanford: $100 million pledge to University of California at San Diego

Stephen Schwarzman: $100 million pledge to Tsinghua University in Beijing

Deborah Joy Simon: $100 million pledge to Mercersburg Academy

Do you know of a recent study of the role of philanthropy and the creation of IP?  Please share, if you do.  I am sure there must be one out there. While not exactly what I am looking for, I do know of this very nice 2006 paper titled “Giving Intellectual Property” by tax and IP experts Professors Xuan-Thao Nguyen and Jeffrey A. Maine.  Happy New Year!