Offering discounted or free products to University and Students...

Offering discounted or free products to University and Students is a time honored marketing practice used by all the tech giants.

Microsoft for example has always offered "student edition" versions of their Windows OS, Office 365, and Server software.
Similarly Adobe with their Adobe Creative suite.
AutoDESK - Revit architectural design & workflow software, AUTOCAD & Inventor 3D Cad do the same.

Intel, Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Texas Instruments and many others have done the same.

It makes sense.

Students who have familiarity with technology are more immediately employable (because they can hit the ground running and be productive earlier).
They are also more likely to stay loyal to the technology platforms they are familiar with.

I don't know, but I would be very surprised to find Universities are paying Brainchip anything. More likely BRN are donating time and product but also making cash payments to fund research programs and PhD students.

IMHO