Hi, I'm currently a postdoc in a large NA academic research group working on molecular problems.
I haven't use bioviz (very cool though!) but it would be paid the same as journal open access fees (which can cost 1000s of dollars and are paid by the authors), through grants. The individual academics usually have full control of their grant money. For large purchases (here above 8000$ or so) the university asks for a competitive tender process or proof that only one vendor exists.
Very few research purchases require departement approval, and physical science professors are pretty used to spending large amount of money on software and equipment. For example, I'm currently working with two programs for which we pay about 20k$ in license fees a year.
I haven't use bioviz (very cool though!) but it would be paid the same as journal open access fees (which can cost 1000s of dollars and are paid by the authors), through grants. The individual academics usually have full control of their grant money. For large purchases (here above 8000$ or so) the university asks for a competitive tender process or proof that only one vendor exists.
Very few research purchases require departement approval, and physical science professors are pretty used to spending large amount of money on software and equipment. For example, I'm currently working with two programs for which we pay about 20k$ in license fees a year.