it all depends on what way or which "kind" of techno that you're talking about.

i generally stick techno into two camps:

1. "listening techno" - this is techno most people would find interesting to listen to but a few of us still find it great to dance to aswell. this is where a high % of the innovation takes place.

2. "dancefloor techno" - this is self explanatory really. techno aimed squarely at the dance floor. to innovate within this sub-genre is really really hard and needs to be done very carefully as we still need to keep dancefloor sensibilities in mind.

unfortunatly most of the listening public are only ever subjected to the second kind, which means that in our eyes (in light of public perception) we aren't progressing as a scene... but we are. i hear tracks everyday that make me sit up and listen. just today i heard a sample from "museum of skulls" by the divide and nearly cried because it was so good! thats what boundry pushing is all about. makin the nerds and the geeks sit up and listen.
but on the other hand i hear artists, who would be making tracks from the second camp, innovating aswell. for instance: the new hydraulix record is something dark and evil yet it will rock a dancefloor. dark tracks can be very very dodgy on a dancefloor and we've all seen them kill a mood BUT to make a dark track that kicks of is truely genius.. and genius innovates...