Lack of Innovations?

I recently wrote a post recapping the 2010 Fall Detroit Camper & RV Show.
One of the parts of that post was a list of the innovations and features that caught me eye. Many of the items that made the list weren't necessarily new, but improvements or variations of past innovations. Even though I clearly mentioned this in the post, I was taken to task by someone who said that I didn't do a very good job of reporting if I only came up with one legitimate innovation after having spent four days at the RV show.

That person might be right. There probably were more innovations, but I just wasn't aware of them.

But I also have another theory: perhaps there was a lack of innovations because for the last two years or so, the RV manufacturing industry has all but shut down. Think about it, if you're laying off 75 percent of your workforce because you're virtually ceasing RV production, would you not also lay off people in the research and development department? And with whatever skeleton workforce that remained, I'd bet there was not enough people to legitimately pursue R&D and have any innovations ready for 2011 mass production models, let alone in time for an 2010 fall RV show.

Just a thought.