Nike certainly do have a lot of technology behind them to help the development of their designs, in the quest to make the perfect skateboard shoe.
With vulcanised sole shoes leading the market at the moment, Nike have created a new sole for their Zoom Tre series that will supposedly rival the skaters favourite right now. Check this video, featuring slo-mo footage and lab test stuff to see the evidence.
However, it seems that whatever sole is better for comfort, vulcs make you do much more tweaked kickflips. Fact.