Support for Basic Research from Private Foundations

I recently learnt about the existence of a new centre of excellence in Denmark devoted to topics close to me research area. Anna and I know basically all the consortium members very well. These people have been collecting centre-of-excellence funding from Danish governmental funding bodies before and on a regular basis. A very interesting aspect of this CoE is that this time around the 25 million DKK (roughly 458 million ISK at today's exchange rate) are being provided by a private foundation, The Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation. (See also this page to find out what other things they fund.)

Wouldn't it be good to have a similar foundation in Iceland supported by a consortium of Icelanders who made it big and want to support the scientific development of their country? This is daydreaming, I know....

Athugasemdir

[Arnar Pálsson, 25.9.2008 kl. 17:05]

Sounds utopian almost, but it is a reality abroad. We have not comparable private agencies (Gates, Packard, Keck, Rasmussen, Wellcome trust) either due to lack of funds or forthsight (or crucially a combination of both!).

Its back to the trenches for us, with the occasional foreign digression.

[Luca Aceto, 27.9.2008 kl. 14:41]

Indeed, Arnar. If one looks at Denmark, there are several private foundations supporting basic research and universities in several ways. On a small, but still significant, scale, in Aalborg we had the CW Obel Foundation to which we applied for funding to attend and organize conferences. They also sponsored a rather rich (250K DKK, if I remember well) young researcher prize and student trips. But there are several more. And one should not forget the Carlsberg Foundation, which supports centres of excellence like this one.

Anyway, good luck to all the blog readers and contributors for the Rannis grant proposal jambouree for 2009!