One thing the U.S. does is put out grants to investigate some thing. They might want someone to do some preliminary research, or build a product, or whatever.

One thing the U.S. does is put out grants to investigate some thing. They might want someone to do some preliminary research, or build a product, or whatever. One of the stipulations of many of these grants is that some large percentage of funds have to go directly to costs associated with the research: paying employees, buying equipment, renting office space, whatever. I don't remember what the actual number usually is, but it's a pretty high percentage, something like 80 or 90%. It's fairly low risk because, if I understand correctly, you get paid even if the result isn't particularly useful. But if your company has a track record of good results, they're more likely to get more grants in the future. Big corporations wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pool because they expect much higher profit margins than 10 or 20%. Unless it's funding something they were planning to do anyways, in which case it might make sense. I think the company that does the research is usually free to commercialize the tech if they want to.