[semi-extrinsic]

Like literally any research organization or university anywhere today.

[argonaut]

Which only makes an organization like YC Research even more valuable of an experiment.

[raphman]

FWIW, as a researcher at a university, it is only my decision whether I apply for a patent or not. In contrast, patenting inventions is an inherent part of the research workflow at research labs such as MSR, Yahoo Research, etc.