Have they ever been alive, though? They seem more of a PR stunt, to show shareholders that the company is invested in the future.
In my country, if you land a job in such a lab, you know you can bullshit around and play with with some stuff. But nothing will ever come out of it. For profit, the corporation will acquire some product or startup.
If you really want to innovate freely, found your own startup. With the additional benefit of reaping the money yourself.
Bell Labs basically re-invented electricity. The invention of the transistor was one of the most important inventions in history, on the scale of the dynamo, gunpowder, or fucking metal tools.
To be fair, there were plenty of people working into creating a transistor, so if Bell Labs weren't there, somebody else would have done it. It is not even clear that they were really the first.
In my country, if you land a job in such a lab, you know you can bullshit around and play with with some stuff. But nothing will ever come out of it. For profit, the corporation will acquire some product or startup.
If you really want to innovate freely, found your own startup. With the additional benefit of reaping the money yourself.