I find it odd that the corporate research lab is popularly acknowledged to be dead when so many large companies maintain corporate research labs:

http://www.geglobalresearch.com/

http://research.ibm.com/

https://research.google.com/

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/

https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/corporate-innovation-labs/ <- a giant list of more labs

...

Now, I will admit that corporate research has tapered off significantly since then, but 'tapered off' and 'dead' are two entirely different things.

You might think 'But wait! the kind of basic physics research that used to be done by Bell is dead'. I counter with two arguments:

- Basic computer science research is an equally valid, equally fundamental thing, and many of the labs listed above conduct it as their primary business

- Basic physics research does still happen. I included GE Global Research at the top of my list because they in particular do a lot of research into materials, chemistry, etc (which will eventually be applied to things like turbine blades, batteries, LEDs, etc.).