I've found a very fundamental methodology for discovery is the experimentation + induction loop: where you first do various things without any real intentions, lock on to the most interesting and unexplained thing you did, do variants of that thing, then model the results of the thing and its variants

I really wish this was more common in R&D in particular. Typically, R&D sets out with the goal of solving something or developing something that for a particular end. You could call this top-down R&D. Whereas inductive / bottom-up R&D probably looks like combining and assembling things you already have and understand with no particular strong goals or uses in mind, then finding uses for the results

A hypothetical example of this: combine food ingredients in various combinations and proportions until you discover a good recipe from the results. This might go far beyond what you imagine. For example, what happens if you mix clay in with bread dough? Can you use soy sauce in cookies? Is it possible to make something edible with salt or sugar epitaxy on a regular food substrate?