I imagine Tanigakure doesn't necessarily have anything like an R&D department. It's a<em>very</em>small village, and the Daimyo's got everybody working at maximum efficiency. Maki could pretty much do the job alone, since it would be a waste to assign, say, a sensor ninja to R&D when they could be out... sensoring. :P<br/><br/>Real estate is also scarce, since they don't want to expand outside the protection of the valley. I imagine Maki just researches stuff in her own home. They probably have training areas outside the village and the like.