This is also why you see announcements of new "breakthroughs" and then nothing further ever happens. The experience is so unpleasant for many people (often com

This is also why you see announcements of new "breakthroughs" and then nothing further ever happens. The experience is so unpleasant for many people (often compared to slavery) that they leave when they get their degree and never work on that project again. The PI's also get bored and want to do something new to keep building their reputation (so onward to the next grad student or post doc). Patents are sometimes generated, but new ideas are very difficult to take to market successfully so those that can afford to buy or license them do so very carefully (unless they want the patent to attack some competitors product.) In general there is rarely any follow through on new ideas, unless you work on projects with DARPA funding where they insist on "technology transfer", and even then many ideas turn out to be unworkable because they require additional extensive engineering for the practical aspects.