Build more Orbital Research Stations.

When Arctic Colonization says it requires "Research Level 3" it means you need 3 Orbital Research Stations. You can also raise your research level through some planet upgrades later in the game, but in general you need more Orbital Research Stations.

One thing to note, is research, for the moment is limited to a single type instead of being split off by Military and Civie.

Also, for TEC at least, Research stations provide the PSIDAR capability when researched aka an early warning system that detects jumps around allied planets. It's valuable to have at least one research station per planet once you have that tech has a heads up.

Further the maximum research level is 20, however when you build more research stations and research a given technology, any research station over the level of the tech you're researching provides a boost in speed to your research, so it may be to your advantage to have more than 20 stations.