Wow. I think I heard this plot before
This sounds a lot like a work of fiction by Cory Doctorow. Big company (I think it was a hypothetical merger of Kodak and Duracell in the post-film era) decides to switch to primarily an angel investor scheme for all the innovative little companies, including a lot of their own engineers.
Lots of little groups of people making cool products as quickly as they can imagine them.
I liked the idea when I read it before and I still like it now.
http://craphound.com/makers/ ( and if you want there's a download now link at the top)