The Innovation Paradigm

I recently went to a presentation titled 'Innovation', conducted by a former F1 Engineer. I also read Keith Lyons/Darrell Cobner's blog post which, as always, got me thinking. The F1 Engineer noted that, in over 10 years working in F1, never once was he asked to 'Innovate'. However, he, and everyone he worked with, were relentlessly challenged to make the car go faster. Darrell discusses the notion of 'low hanging fruit' with regard to the important role human beings play in the drive to succeed in sport. I've always been uncomfortable with the innovation paradigm, and this description of F1 really made sense. In sport, and I believe in all other activities, the key is not the innovation, the key is the problem. What is the fundamental thing (or things) that you need to achieve? Once this is clear, thought needs to be put into two things: Are we doing everything we can to achieve this? Is there anything we are doing that can be done bette