I really like your proposal and as you said, it is perfectly in line with creative ethics. However it would not work for the part of innovation that is further away from end-products and their appearance. Sometimes it is worth a lot to produce something cheaper by improving the production process. And that may mainly just mean lower prices. By the way it seems to me that the hugely increased role of design - such as UX design - is now also reflected in shifting the economic battles from hardcore technology to something more "superficial". And I'm using that word neutrally.