Firstly, I've got nothing against people loving what they're into, if you're into a particular sound and it really does it for you, whether it be hard loops, London acid stuff, the dark industrial regis/downward sound, or wonk, electro, detroit, more housey sounding stuff whatever, if you're into it, you're into it, and fairplay to that, one man's pleasure is another man's poison, mutual respect and all that..

But let's be honest here.
I personally don't hear much innovation in a lot of techno these days, and we're never going to get back to the explosion of new stuff that we had in the early 90s.. The stuff that could be described as innovative generally falls too far outside what the majority would have in their record boxes...Then again, innovation can be viewed as quite a personal thing..

As for describing what you'd do, surely it's better just to do it, experiment, rather than speculate randomly on what would be good? surely if you can totally personify music with words, what is the point in the music? Not wanting to fall into "Millsisms" or anything, and as much as I don't neccesarily agree with the quote wholeheartedly, but I think there is at least something in what Oliver Ho once said in an interview:
Music is a metaphor for a concept so abstract that you can't use words
The wording of it I don't really like (Maybe this is my own prejudice against these kind of "mills" kind of statements), but there is a concept in there that I can see, which is, if you can talk about it, is there any need for the music?
Not wanting to detract from the good intentions of this thread at all, but it seems slightly flawed IMHO, as the best way you can state what you can do to progress the music cannot fundamentally be explained in words, it's best expressed with new innovative music.
Personally, I think to push things forward, you have to take elements that you liked from the past, and lose the elements that you don't like (Which inevitably means pointing out what you don't like, you can't have innovation and not confront this issue) and fuse it with something new and fresh, which can only come from experimentation in the studio, and having the guts to do something different that might not be accepted by a lot of people. this last point is even harder if you are an established artist who has a certain sound expected of them, and are relying on their music for their income, it becomes very risky, but to be a true innovator you have to take those risks.. Even then, it's always going to be a matter of personal opinion on whether something is really pushing things forward..

but is this really the future or am i kidding myself?
I don't think we're ever going to see the explosion of innovation in techno that we saw in the early 90s.. there will be innovation in music, but techno has become far too catagorised, that anything that really breaks the mould won't be considered to be techno, it will be something that doesn't have a name, and to have the same kind of energy and excitment would have to be a whole new movement, without prejudice or any pre-concieved ideas of what it should or shouldn't be, this is the only way that innovation can flourish, when the canvas is blank, and it's a whole new sound/scene/ thing in general.. Personally I think you're kidding yourself if you think techno is the music of the future, but that's just my opinion.. I could be completely wrong and be eating my hat within 10 years :lol:

I don't want to seem like I'm being awkward here or anything, I'm just stating the opinion I believe in...
Peace.