I think you’re overstating your case on Science Beakers. Take the example of titanium, as described here. In short, what happened was:
Basic research happened, leading to small-scale production and basic knowledge of its properties.
People (including the US government) started spending science beakers on the Titanium tech node.
Through experience and research, they learned stuff like the fact that cadmium-coated wrenches are bad.
Now, we can effectively work titanium.
If it wasn’t for the A-12 project (and its precursors and successors), then we simply wouldn’t be able to build things out of titanium. No reasonable amount of non-titanium background research would get an engineer to check their marking pen for chloride-based inks or discover osseointegration.
I haven’t looked into supersonic flight technology, but I’d be shocked if they discovered nothing new from the design and operation of the Concorde.
Key paragraph:
The 1952 symposium is clearly a precursor to its 1959-1964 production and development, and the 1966 one is drawing from the experiences of the industrial base it created.
EDIT: and more directly: