While playing tec with a large amount of civil reseach going on i qued up the orbital refinery and trade port.  I was instantly able to build them and they actually spawned refinery ships and trade ships which were functional and were gaining credits and resources for me.  This whole time the research for these items never started and was still in que.  I was also able to cancel the research and keep the buildings along with a refund of the initial research.  I haven't tried many other buildings but it appears that all tec logistical buildings allow them to be built before the research finishes.  Of course this would appear to be a pretty major ecoomic exploit when you consider you can select a novalith and build it immediately and then get nearly half the cost of a cannon right back when you refund the research.