Who's working (not investing) on Research and Development, private firms or universities?

Question

For example, when they say: McLaren has brought out to the market this or that, or any other firm, like Prada has new colours for their fabrics, who did that research, a university or is there a department for that in every firm? Thanx

Answer 1

The answer is both. Private firms by far spend the most money on R&D of the two. University research is often sold to private firms or public institutions (like the military).

A hightech company like Microsoft spends about $10 bn/year on R&D, Intel, military contractors and various medicine companies spend huge amounts as well.