I’d worry that you’re asking a bit too much of Wikipedia here.

In my opinion insight/innovation/ideas (call it what you will) comes from the re-combination of existing knowledge, but in new ways. Because of this, it’s obvious that the larger the store of collective knowledge and the easier it is to access, the more likely it is that people will use it to innovate upon and create new ideas.

This is evident throughout history, with the ancient Greeks and the library of alexandria, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, and with the Renaissance in Florence.

All of these started with a repository of collective knowledge at their core as a “step 1″, and then insight, discovery and genius flourished on top of this. I think this “step 1″ is the role that Wikipedia, Youtube, ted talks etc. all serve on the internet and I think expecting them to play a part in “step 2″ is not only asking too much, but could also distract them from the vital role they play.

So I think you’re idea of an innovators network or some other tool that would act as a layer on top of wikipedia would work best, as opposed to trying to build idea generation into the library/encyclopedia itself.

P.S. It was only after writing this that realised the unintentional irony in my linking to Wikipedia to give you the background knowledge upon which I’m basing my idea!