I used to view innovation as: making it possible to do something that wasn't possible before (going from 0 to 1). But under that definition alone, SpaceX would not be very innovative. It's just sometimes when you go from 1 to N but the N is so large (like SpaceX case) it's probably a different kind of innovation. And by making the N that large, it's starts to look a lot like 0-1 and new opportunities arise, like the chance of getting to Mars (which is definitely 0-1)
There are certain fields where everything is pretty much 0 to 1.
Designing a nuclear reactor or an orbital rocket is an incredible feat of engineering, even if you have half a century or more of work to fall back on.
