Although I haven’t had any experience working in industry research, it seems that industry research is the most impactful work in terms of changes to our lives and ways of doing things. Companies like Du Pont have created countless products that are ubiquitous in our lives, and pharmaceutical companies continuously churn out new medical interventions on a daily basis. Academic research, in my experience, is more focused on the foundational aspects of our knowledge. With a lack of direct, monetary motivation, there is no need to have work translate into a product, and so much of academic research stays within the realm of those in the field. Industrial research is targeted towards affecting society and gaining capital from it, so as far as visibility and impact go, it would be the more “successful” of the two.