1. TypeScript (and Dart, which influenced it) would not exist without the research on gradual and optional typing. Many other of the type system features in TypeScript – like type inferencing, intersection and union types, and type-level programming (e.g. conditional types) – find their origin in PL research, and were uncommon in mainstream but common in academic programming languages before TypeScript appeared.
2. Similarly, mypy was created by Jukka Lehtosalo as part of his PhD [1] and part of a wave of research in applying gradual typing to dynamically typed programming languages.
3. Rust's ownership types and borrowing are based on PL research, such as linear logic / linear types. Same for traits. Early Rust even had typestates.
4. Several of the core developers of Rust, Go, TypeScript, C#, Dart, Scala, have a PhD in PL or a background in research.
5. Generics are another feature that was heavily researched in academia (admittedly a longer time ago) before becoming part of mainstream programming languages.
So I completely disagree with you: most modern languages have been heavily influenced by programming language research. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to find a modern PL that hasn't been in some way influenced by PL research.
(One thing I agree with in your comment, is that current PL research focuses too heavily on type systems and should look more at other interesting PL features. My recommendation to InkCanon would therefore be to look broader than type systems. The problem with research on type systems is that, because it looks math-y, it feels more like "science" and hence "cures impostor syndrome". But cool stuff can be real science too!)
2. Similarly, mypy was created by Jukka Lehtosalo as part of his PhD [1] and part of a wave of research in applying gradual typing to dynamically typed programming languages.
3. Rust's ownership types and borrowing are based on PL research, such as linear logic / linear types. Same for traits. Early Rust even had typestates.
4. Several of the core developers of Rust, Go, TypeScript, C#, Dart, Scala, have a PhD in PL or a background in research.
5. Generics are another feature that was heavily researched in academia (admittedly a longer time ago) before becoming part of mainstream programming languages.
So I completely disagree with you: most modern languages have been heavily influenced by programming language research. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to find a modern PL that hasn't been in some way influenced by PL research.
(One thing I agree with in your comment, is that current PL research focuses too heavily on type systems and should look more at other interesting PL features. My recommendation to InkCanon would therefore be to look broader than type systems. The problem with research on type systems is that, because it looks math-y, it feels more like "science" and hence "cures impostor syndrome". But cool stuff can be real science too!)
[1] https://mypy-lang.org/about.html