Yes.
It sounds like you may already have gotten an MEng or the equivalent, but if you haven't, an MEng is a way to work on a cutting edge project.
One goal is to develop a really good demo, as opposed to a company. Personally I had a lot of success making demos when I was working full time for somebody else but when I was doing it full-time on my own account (as well as doing a lot of business development work) I didn't quite find what I was looking for.