Modern education system destroys innovation at large, and the economies of modern world don't support invention at rate you'd expect to influence technology. There is no stimulus/prestige to be an inventor, the focus is either money or fame, with prestige of science being severely diminished in favor of pop culture "recognition"(viral/memetic). Science itself shifted from lone genius inventors towards teams working f…
There’s a healthy number of blogs, tweets, and repo comments and communities (HN even) helping people understand these technical areas, drastically reducing the barrier to entry.
There certainly is a lot of protectionism putting a damper on things in many areas, but you’re talking about mass-production, which isn’t necessarily required in all cases, especially when there’s so many alternatives equivalents available these days.