Computer Forensics is an area that can totally get some love. The hardware and software is designed to be used by large agencies, pricing out the consumer space (for data recovery) and the small business (for data recovery)
There are some decent open source forensics projects out there, such as The Sleuth Kit / Autopsy. I'm not sure how well they compare to the more pricey alternatives like EnCase, but they seem popular enough among law enforcement.
Research into what... I think that is part of the problem.
I was recently reading a click bait article about how some craft person knew something an archeologist didn't... The Portuguese is no one knows everything. Also look at a lot of our technological marvels ah were accidents.
More resesrch won't necessarily help, if you are already going down the wrong path
If we invest a few percent more in R&D every year, for example, would that compound over decades?
If we did more Citizen Science? Individual and crowdsourced.
More X-Prize investments?
Consumer products like televisions, smartphones, smart watches, etc advance because consumers are willing to spend large amounts of money.
If robotics, or any technology, could reach a tipping point, it’ll get the same investment.