From a non-tech perspective, IKEA, as a private company, shares a similar focus with Bell Labs on enhancing individual components to improve the overall system.
What I've noticed buying Ikea stuff over the last 30 years so that it's gotten progressively lower-quality.
Take for example their Kallax shelves. I've purchased them at least 4 times in the last 20 years, each time, a part that was metal before got replaced by a plastic or wood part, the wood got thinner or less dense, .... They still work so maybe that's innovative.
