There's quite a bit of money, a license for a small design shop will easily span from mid six figures to millions. There is rampant theft though, see the recent http://norcalrecord.com/stories/511081584-synopsis-claims-ub... as an example

The real reason innovation died is a complex and meandering sadness, but basically the business leaders prioritized head count and comfort over whatever it takes to lure creative, intelligent, academic, etc people into an industry and do non-linear things. I think there are similar parallels to computer architecture and operating systems, but these are a bit more widely approachable so there's still a small influx of academics and new companies.

> There is rampant theft though, see the recent http://norcalrecord.com/stories/511081584-synopsis-claims-ub.... as an example

This is not theft, but unauthorized use of the software.

What I heard from them is most of the money comes from a small percentage of customers doing expensive work. They don't want to take chances on unproven tools since mistakes cost too much. So, they keep using the Big 3. There's occasionally companies like Magma that show up delivering good value for a fraction of the price. Plus cheaper or better alternatives to Big 3 functionality such as Tanner. They usually get acquired, though, by companies that dislike effect of competition on profits. The integration of those features make the competition look even worse.

Those successful in EDA seem to mostly be niche players doing one job a lot better than Big 3.

Seems to be a general problem with design tools in many industries, isn't it?

When the jobs disappear it's hard to sell picks and shovels.