[estroz]

Traditionally, academic disciplines have stemmed from others via discovery and innovation. There is no difference in academic CS; industrial (software) engineering best-practices, ex. design patterns, are derived from research. I would suggest doing a more thorough search through industry-focused academic literature, and pattern match what you do against findings to find a best match. Additionally, you could pursue a masters/PhD in a lab that does work on that topic (assuming you find something). Alternatively, get sponsorship from a company with resources as was suggested already. Think Bell Labs.

Out of curiosity, what is the general (or specific, if you feel comfortable sharing) area of your expertise? I'm always interested in exciting tech niches.

[marikio]

Unfortunately, I've reached out to MIT, Yale, USC which seemed to have departments focused on parts of what I do, but they all basically said "awesome stuff, much needed, we don't have the funding to explore, but please keep in touch".

I play at the intersection of systems engineering and social movements.