I may getting a little ahead of myself here, but in thinking about fleet AI:
1) Techs that increase general fleet AI, fleet tactics and fleet coordination. This is totally feasible for the TEC, as they are in the process of re-militarizing space, why not make a tech line to increase a Fleet's coordination efforts, maybe even tie this into fleets coordinating between player/CPU allies in joint battles/raids/defense.
An in more general terms:
2) Techs related to scanning sweeps of nearby nodes by specialized frigates (or as a frigate ability) to reveal partial intel about adjacent nodes, or techs related to jamming scanner sweeps or mis-directing scanner sweeps (I thought about this while thinking back to the original sins website about one of the original intended scout abilities (not the TEC though) to misdirect phase jump information.
3) Techs related to coordinating planetary defense (includes ships, emplacements, etc...)
Anyone else have other tech-related research ideas?