Good ideas, therefore, are hidden. They're hidden in dark alleys which are only good because you know that there's a route to escape and your pursuer doesn't.

So says Erik Benson in a great post about what makes an idea good and how to manufacture innovation:

I've been thinking a lot about manufacturing innovation. To manufacture innovation is to try to increase the likelihood that good ideas would come through you or your company more than they currently are. The problem is that there is so much unknown information... most of the information we need to find the good ideas is hidden, otherwise the good ideas would've already been distributed by someone else. Tim O'Reilly wants to solve this challenge by "capturing and transmitting the knowledge of innovators and innovative communities". If you don't have the hidden information, go where the hidden information has the best chance of surfacing and then transmit it. Are there alternative strategies?

Think about this -- but first, read Erik's whole post. (Thanks, Hylton!)