I don't know, I feel like lots of people donate to universities to spend their times solving problems that almost nobody has. Or maybe they don't, but somehow that money still exists. How does that work?
Why are we assuming that everything has to be done by companies? What if we establish a National Science Foundation for fundamental CS research?
Or maybe they don't, but somehow that money still exists. How does that work?
This isn't that difficult of a question.
1) Universities get money from the students who pay tuition and fees for their education.
2) Universities get money from wealthy benefactors who donate their money to a cause they believe in.
3) Universities get money from for-profit companies that have sufficient commercial success to invest into research and such for what they hope will be later commercial benefit.
4) Universities get money from people who confiscated the money from other people, under threat of force and who might not have given it otherwise, and give it to a cause they believe in.
Not necessarily in that order by whatever measure you may choose. Note that, In no case did the wealth magically just appear. The wealth to consume was produced somewhere by someone.
Sounds like you're proposing 4 as you imply that the we that is not the companies won't be trying to create the wealth you want to use in your cause.
Why are we assuming that everything has to be done by companies? What if we establish a National Science Foundation for fundamental CS research?