»skunkworks

The phrase 'skunkworks' usually applies to the shadowy labs area of a company, the incubator within from which energetic new projects emerge. Sometimes these projects are underfunded, or not funded at all; they have no official role within the corporation's Grand Strategic Plan.
Or, perhaps, they are just mixing up the medicine: according to techtarget, the name comes from a bootlegger's setup in Al Capp's justly legendary newspaper comical strip, Li'l Abner, which I have been recently enjoying anew.
"skunkworks" was popularised at Lockheed Martin:

A skunkworks is a group of people who, in order to achieve unusual results, work on a project in a way that is outside the usual rules. A skunkworks is often a small team that assumes or is given responsibility for developing something in a short time with minimal management constraints. Typically, a skunkworks has a small number of members in order to reduce communications overhead. A skunkworks is sometimes used to spearhead a product design that thereafter will be developed according to the usual process. A skunkworks project may be secret.