Research unlocks new possibilities for your Logistics Empire. In order to do research you need a research center.
Each research will cost LE-Dollar and time to finish. Some require other research to be completed first.
There are different types of research centers which allow for researches in different industries to be completed.
Through research you can....
... unlock new buildings
... unlock new goods
... Increase your Building limits
... Increase your Business Partner limits
... unlock many more things in the future.
TIP: When you're just starting out, you might want to take your tasks as a guideline for what to research first. Unlocking too many resources too quickly could slow down your progress, since your production might need some time to catch up with the new demand.