> but a credible recipe for reducing the idea to practice
So, where can I buy those inertial mass dampeners? Some chinese knockoffs would be fine too.
I think you are wrong. Ideas are a dime a dozen, good ideas are not. Ideas, which can be put into something useful. Yes, bringing an idea to life is also important, and often credit belongs to the person who does. But on the other side, there are plenty ideas, which once being had, are trivial to put into production.
So credit belongs to all involved people. Sometimes it is more the execution, sometimes it is the idea by itself. And very often, it is a process of iteration. Having an idea, implementing it, augmenting the idea and implement that.
At the workplace, someone will often suggest something at a meeting, or to a subordinate, and claim "credit" for it later on. My rule of thumb is that credit goes to the person who actually made it happen, because that person had to work out whether it was feasible or not. Ideas are a dime a dozen.