Copying? That’s kindergarten stuff. Trying something new? That’s like skydiving blindfolded while knitting the parachute—and praying the ground’s feeling generous.
it is (relatively) easy to copy something that you know works.
it is extremely hard to do something new, risky, and difficult when you don't know if it will work.
individual researchers rightly get a lot of glory for that when they do it! it's the coolest thing in the world.