Thoughts about innovation

As some of you know, I've been looking for a new job (not very actively until now, I wrote about that recently) and last week I got some wonderful feedback from a recruiter I have known for a very long time.

So going to the point, apparently, there are HR people/hiring managers that see my CV as a high risk for the company because I've tried to create my own business in the past, or I've tried to make something new. So basically, they are scared I'll get a brilliant idea and then leave.

That got me thinking. We as a society believe we praise entrepreneurship and innovation, but in reality, it turns out, we reject it. We only praise the ones who succeed, so we praise success. Maybe that's why people who have tried once keep trying, because maybe there is no other chance to go back.

I'm not sure how this is going to play out in the long run, and whether Darwin has something for us if we only foster success. But leaving the philosophical part out of the equation, I'm more curious about what companies are really doing.

Surely universities are innovating, as well as research companies in materials, chemicals, etc. But I'm concerned about the average tech/software company that isn't related to AI, as software is my main expertise. I'd have thought that even if you are a SaaS or you have some product, you would be doing some research/innovation to help your users even more. But based on the feedback I got, I think they are not innovating at all.

For example, let's say there is a software company: if it's not innovating, what is it doing? Are the software engineers just reinventing the wheel all the time? Are they doing the same as the competition? It seems like a waste of resources to me.

On the contrary, what if they are innovating? What's the profile of these workers? Based on the feedback I got, for sure they didn't try themselves to create something new.

With all this, I'm not trying to say I'm looking for a research company or anything like that, I didn't even apply to any. I'm just worried about the innovation state of normal companies, and I'd like to know about your experience with this and whether your company is innovating or not, because it's a bit concerning.