The new philanthropists

• Autores: Jacob Aron
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3073, 2016, págs. 18-19
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In 2016, it seems as if every other week a billionaire announces they have stumped up the cash to tackle a longstanding challenge that mere mortal scientists have failed to crack. Science gets a handsome injection of funds and the donor secures their legacy. Wealthy patronage of science took off in the 19th century but these days things are a little different. Rather than writing a cheque and getting their name on a building, like the Rockefellers and Carnegies of old, today's tycoons practice "venture philanthropy," modeled after the venture capital that funds Silicon Valley tech firms. The time horizons are much shorter, the outcomes are well defined, and often the philanthropists are heavily involved in the process, says Benjamin Soskis at George Mason University in Virginia. Here, Aron discusses how Silicon Valley bigwigs are falling over themselves to donate to science--as long as they can call the shots