Well, the development of flying machines is an example of that.
Initially, there was no corporate interest - no money to be made from new fangled stuff. Big money is conservative.
So development was by colaboration between privateers around the world, blokes sharing knowledge (ip). Just some hobbyists trying to solve some problem that investors couldn't see as a moneymaker.
Along came the infamous Wright Bros (the first tech bros).
They collected the free knowledge, combined it to make a working proof of concept, patented it, promoted it and owned it (briefly).
Capitalism rules!
Even in communist countries.