Often it isn't the main goal of the research that's monetizable. Instead there's an assumed body of knowledge that is "well-known" and "solved" - but in fact th

Often it isn't the main goal of the research that's monetizable. Instead there's an assumed body of knowledge that is "well-known" and "solved" - but in fact there are only a few people in the world that truly understand it, and it could make a large impact in the industry. If you can get deep enough into a field to sense those ideas in the air (and this is much less work than you need to publish original papers yourself), you might find a goldmine.