A combination of shrinking market, distributers losing their balls, desperation from artists and dj`s to be popular in as little time with as little work as possible, has caused an overall lack of courage.
The mentality of play safe is partly what has "ruined" techno.

There is still great stuff out there, but distributers are so backed into a corner now they just want a repeat of whatever was popular last month.
The game is constantly playing catch up, rather than investing in getting ahead of the game.

The digital revolution is both a massive blessing and a curse.
The blessing is that some really good shit is out there getting released now, that normally would scare the distributers.
The curse is that you need to spend time sifting through all the crap (was it any different when vinyl was massive though?)

What holds techno back is the dogged and blind commitment to vinyl, which you just don`t see so much in other dance genres.