That's true, but there's also something unique about being able to take an existing idea and turn it into something relevant and marketable. Look at everything Xerox did to advance the state of the art, and compare that with their inability to turn any of it into viable products. As much as it's easy to say "Xerox messed up", that diminishes the value added by the likes of Jobs and Gates when they turned those ideas into something valuable for the masses. (Which is there the money is, among other things.)

I'm not saying it's necessarily fair, just that there's value in that 'last mile' between a long line of development and the end user of an idea or product.