Research is a crucial part of a successful civilization, responsible for uncovering technology breakthroughs that will give you an edge across the board, from the negotiations table to the fleets laying waste to your opponent.
Generating research
Research works on a global scale and the weekly income represents the combined effectiveness of your science teams. The basic way to increase research is to allocate a colony's production in the economy wheel and to construct colony improvements that boost a colony's output. Specialized colonies are some of the most powerful assets that way, though of course, this will result in crippling blows to your efforts if they fall to the enemy. On the other hand, a distributed research network, while robust, is also less effective.