Can Philanthropic Money Spur Innovation?

Quite a bit actually, and this is particularly true in biomedicine. We just need to look at the history of philanthropic foundations and their impact on healthcare, beginning from Carnegie to Rockefeller, Howard Hughes to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the latter having raised it to a scale that even some countries can’t be a match, either in money or in motivation.

India, for various reasons, never experienced this kind of philanthropy. One can argue, there was no such money available. But even of late when some philanthropic activity has taken roots, most of it is in primary education. Nobody funds research, least of all biomedical research where risks are high and the so-called “valley of death” particularly steep.

So, by that account today marks an important day in life sciences inIndia. The Wadhwani Foundation announced a $1.5 m endowment to start a new centre at the National Centre for Biological Sciences. Instituted within InStem, the stem cell institute, the new center for regenerative medicine would support research in cardiac and neural field and has deep-rooted collaborations withKyotoUniversityinJapan andStanfordUniversityin theUS.

What is special about this modest grant is its no-strings-attached and flexible nature. The money would be used to enhance the “productivity” of InStem. Now, what does that mean? It means it could be used to invite visiting faculty, top-up remuneration of great talent, buy instruments that are needed but can’t wait for the glacial government procurements, and so on. (It looks like a great start at a time when people are even resorting to crowdsourcing for funding research?)

Like many others, Wadhwani Foundation says its work is outcome-driven. So I asked Mr Wadhwani how he’d measure the return on investment, particularly because he is also proposing a “bigger, bolder” idea for a larger international collaboration at NCBS. He said, “In this case I’d not measure it. It is meant to leverage other grants and funding.”

In other words, it’s meant to provide that extra push which takes a cricket player, say from being a Ranji Trophy player to a Test player - a subtle but key component of doing high quality research which often taxpayers’ money cannot provide in this country.

As for the measurement, there’s a catch.  How do you measure and take credit for the increased productivity – have the researchers done well because of this extra support, or because they are inherently smart people congregated in a smart environment? I guess, appropriately enough, most donors devise their own metrics.

Later this week, Wadhwani is going to inaugurate another center at IIT Bombay, again a biosciences and bioengineering center where he has committed $5 million.

Time many other wealthy, thinking people came forward to kickstart high-impact biomedical innovation from India.

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.