I am doing research (on robotics) outside of universities and government funding channels. I contribute most of my time, and I fund supplies and several silicon

I am doing research (on robotics) outside of universities and government funding channels. I contribute most of my time, and I fund supplies and several silicon valley salaries. You can't really compare effectiveness against a university. The real product of university research programs is researchers who then go on to build real things in industry. So while in the short term I'm more likely to produce useful robots than academia, they will have more long-term effect by graduating hundreds of smart people who go on to build useful things in industry. The real measure of universities isn't how many things are invented within their walls but how many things are invented by people who were shaped by their university experience. Most people in my company did graduate research, so their respective universities deserve some of the credit for whatever we invent.