In my experience even if your boss doesn't care often they aren't willing to put any effort/burn political capital to get the higher ups to approve it. Your mileage might vary.
For example my last job I made a utility that talked to a vendors software and collected some data we needed to comply with government regulations. That vendor knew of another site that needed the same software and wanted to buy a copy from us. Anyways, the employer (a hospital) even had an IP consultant come through to see different projects that might be commercializable come through. After a week or so of onsite interviews, filling out the invonvation paperwork (forget what the proper term was for it), having a customer already lined up etc etc. Still couldn't convince my boss to chat with his boss to get it to go forward. He didn't seem to mind the idea, but also no one wanted to own the liablity if something went wrong, wanted the hassle of figuring out who gets paid what (unlike the US in my country the employee owns the IP of the stuff they create unless explicitly assigned in their employee contract (I wasn't hired as a software developer/had no ownship transfer in my contract)). Anyways, I could of just tried doing it on the side but would have all the hassles of a business including significant liablity exposure should something break. Also wanted to keep it internal since I'd already been paid to make the code/didn't want to piss of my employer. Still: can be an upward battle: pretty much by definition anyone working at a government job/for someone else doesn't want the hassle of dealing with all the business processes themselves (you might like sales but hate legal, might like product development but be antisocial, etc, few people enjoy the whole process).