They tend to look at things from a pure science point of view....

They tend to look at things from a pure science point of view. And yes, I'd say it's possible they can come up with something even if it's not "in collaboration" as such, given time and resources.

Anecdotally, a mining company I previously worked for used things that the CSIRO did with fluid dynamics to improve the gravity separation method they used at the first stage of concentrating their product, prior to processing. I don't think the original research the CSIRO did in that case was even intended for that use when it was done, it just suited the purpose. The power of nerds with lots of thinking time.