Possible Clues:

• New products dept
• Corporate division, informally ... or a hint to the answers to the eight starred clues
• Early stage of industrial work, for short
• Experimental division, for short
• Company’s creative dept., and a hint to the five long Across answers
• Testing division, for short
• Use of about 15% of Google's revenue, for short
• Company's creative dept
• Company's department that innovates, and an abbr. that describes this puzzle's theme
• Innovative corporate activity, briefly