Well you're not explicitly wrong. Universities don't make things, but people at universities do. And universities are directly impacting inventors and researche

Well you're not explicitly wrong. Universities don't make things, but people at universities do. And universities are directly impacting inventors and researchers by providing education, professional networking and support, and infrastructure. To be entirely honest, I'm not familiar with all the channels that researchers can get funding, but to discount all these factors by saying universities don't make anything is kind of lame too.