The problem is that with close to 7 Billion people on the planet there is something north of 7 billion "new and crazy" ideas out there and not one tenth of one percent of them are good. Great is even rarer. The vast majority of good ideas come from people with intimate knowledge of the situation. People who have been working in the industry every day and who are familiar with the equipment and environment.

Historically open calls for ideas are useless as a method of finding solutions. They are good PR because it presents the organization as being open and keeps the public engaged. But historically, well recorded back to the first years of WW2, the numbers of really useful ideas and results have been insignificant. It still works as PR.

But even a "great idea" make no difference if the person cannot effectively communicate it. The difference between a great idea and a lousy one is often presentation, timing and luck. An idea on its own means very little.

The whole mythology about building a better mousetrap is bull. You have better odds picking up golf club for the first time and finding out you are the next Tiger Woods. We are way past mousetraps. Education, expertise, and familiarity with materials and science are vital if you want to have any impact. The days when a high-school dropout could ride an idea to prosperity are essentially gone.