Indeed, many published PR papers describe expected benefits to the taxpayer. Until then, counting of papers will provide the assessment. Folklore also has it that British academics and eccentrics have the most wonderful ideas, which are then exploited by foreign industries. This myth is arrant nonsense. I have talked with many researchers over the years, often to assess the value to industry of PR research.
Discussions usually lead nowhere because of the differences in culture.
Both parties fear a financial rip-off, researchers fear plagiarism, industry fears unrevealed problems. The relationship with industry would be improved if the academics who manage research were to study, at first-hand, the culture of industry and the needs of the user. Finding time to do that may well be impossible with the present paperwork load on academic management. The alternative is the involvement of independent outsiders, people with first-hand professional experience of the two cultures, either as academics with serious industrial experience or as industrial experts with serious academic experience. Such people are available.