Two institutions: Georgetown University and Apple Inc authored this paper. Possibly, the university developed or conceived the algorithm or model, and needed data (a critical raw material for AI research) and computing resources, and Apple provided those. If you go deeper, there is a symbiotic relationship here: universities are great at developing models as they have “free” PhD students who can be paid nothing even as they drive for new frontiers, while companies have resources and want to take those models into the market as products.
So, the companies drop some funds to the universities, and most times those are tax deductible during corporate tax filing. The universities have resources to do their thing. Over time, America advances!
I am hoping that those reforming Nigeria’s tax laws will pay attention to the power of tax in university-industry partnerships, and how an efficient tax system will stimulate a university-industry partnership in Nigeria; I explain here.
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Donation money given to schools is tax deductible because the schools are tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Service tax code. This is the key reason. If Apple or GM were to do the training in-house, the tax benefits will not materialize. They will still train the young people, but they cannot deduct that money. But by giving the money to colleges, they get the trained people and still get the deductions. This makes it easier when you need scale, beyond what you can have inside as staff for talent pipeline.
Private Financing of Nigerian Public Universities via Tax Innovation
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