Thing is, there are no 'obvious' things to achieve any more, the basic human needs for light, heat and food are pretty much met in the West, the scientific knowledge of things such as astronomy and physics have advanced to the point where the layman can barely understand them, thus they lose interest.
There is still plenty of innovation going on, but people are looking in the wrong places, innovation always happens where it is needed, these days a lot of innovation is taking place in third world countries with regards to water reclamation, plant cross-breeding etc.
Europe is about to launch an Ion-Jet driven satellite that will actually orbit low enough to experience a minute degree of atmospheric drag, it's job is to create a gravitic map of the planet. That's pretty spectacular but it'll pass un-noticed by most of us unless something unfortunate happens to it, these days it's the only time half the public pay attention.
So, in my opinion, innovation is alive and kicking, not at Microsoft, where people go home to their air-conditioning, ready meals and armchair, but either in areas that the layman cannot understand what the innovation is, or in areas where it's a question of being creative or starving to death.
