The downturn will last a few years, but ‘innovation in every field – from software and materials science to genetics and energy generation … will help improve the world and reinvigorate the world economy’. That’s the view of Bill Gates, expressed in a public letter about the Gates Foundation’s work. Although the Foundation saw the value of its assets fall by roughly 20 per cent in 2008, Gates said it will increase the dollar amount of its grantmaking in the coming year, from the $3.3 billion it gave in 2008 to $3.8 billion.