I don't think a general answer is possible. Academia and industry both cover such a huge range. For example in my case, I did a PhD and then went into embedded

I don't think a general answer is possible. Academia and industry both cover such a huge range. For example in my case, I did a PhD and then went into embedded industry. We did better engineering in some research projects than in the industry project I'm currently in. In both cases the projects are not representative though. In general, I can only say that I enjoy building stuff which gets actually used. The chance for that is much higher in industry.