Many companies have (or once had) research labs which contribute(d) mightily to the advancement of science and/or technology, even if not to the company's bottom line.

Some of them have their own pages on Wiki.

* ThomasEdison's labs at Menlo Park, NJ and West Orange, NJ
* NikolaTesla's lab (Edison's arch-rival; invented A.C. motors, generators, flourescent lights)
* BellLabs
* XeroxParc
* IbmThomasJayWatsonResearchCenter

See MicrosoftLabs.

TekLabs (now defunct)

* Of course, TekLabs might not belong on the list, other than the fact that many WikiZen''''''s here were associated with it, including WardCunningham.  They did do lots of cool stuff with SmalltalkLanguage, with color printer technology, etc.  OTOH, nobody speaks of TekLabs with the same reverence as BellLabs, either....

* They did some really good work on color systems that transcended their product line.