[dekhn]

R&D in pharma/biotech can be like this. But there are fewer and fewer free-wheeling R&D groups in industry these days, probably because people saw Xerox PARC and thought it was a waste of money (a single invention at PARC paid for all of PARC).

[ghaff]

>But there are fewer and fewer free-wheeling R&D groups in industry these days

This was true going back to the 80s. If anything there's been something of an uptick in companies with money to burn.