Google is giving Cornell University 22,000 square feet of office space in its New York City headquarters for the next five years free of charge.
“I’m passionate about breaking ground in science and engineering because technology has driven many of the advances humankind has made,” Google chief executive Larry Page said at the press conference in New York Monday. “But we still don’t have enough people working in these areas. It’s why I am tremendously pleased that Google is giving Cornell the office space to get their new engineering university up and running in New York City.”
The lease for CornellNYC Tech lasts five years and six months, or however long it takes for Cornell to complete its Roosevelt Island campus. The new campus is part of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's push for educating and developing tech talent.
Google's role is probably more pragmatic -- essentially writing off the lease as one of its many charitable deeds and getting some great press in the process. What's not the win-win here?
