Where is the research in the industries and the universities heading to?

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I am a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Most of the research that’s taking place in the Universities (and also in the industries) is on a microscopic level. I mean instead of going into how to make people happy, the research is more for the scientists to make themselves happy. There is always room for new and better end-user products. The trend in research seems to be, “Let’s try to do some research on this thing and then see where it can be used”. But I feel that we’ll benefit more is the trend is, “Ok, we need this, now let’s do some research to implement it”. Do you get my point? Please broaden my perspective...