Well it's just a loosely held opinion based on observations and not worth arguing over in the sense of trekking bars and in no way meant to be a slight. I include Canada as part of the US in this regard although for various reasons we are somewhat earlier adopters. If we look at a lot of what are perceived as NA advances they are really based on brain power and ideas brought over from Europe, which makes sense when we see CAN/US as immigrant nations. The space program being a good example primarily evolving out of German rocketry.

My first sports exposure came in climbing where I saw many new ideas out of Europe in terms of equipment and approaches. Just novel ideas that I suspect come from having so many more people involved in the same sport all bouncing off each other in a small area and trying to stand out by putting their own twist on a central theme. IN NA we have pockets of activity but are mostly too spread out to create the hot bed of activity that spawns innovation. Yosemite was one of the first areas where that did happen and climbing evolved but most of that was already happening in Europe. Ice climbing is a part of alpine climbing which was specialized as a stand alone sport. Parapenting (para sailing) as a way to descend from summits. Things like that.

I worked in the greenhouse industry and almost without exception new technology and techniques came out of Holland. This was due to their small geographic size which meant they had to maximize productivity via technology and high unskilled labour rates that drove automation. In Canada we were early adopters because of somewhat high labour rates and a harsher climate. The US has a milder climate (especially in agricultural CA), lots of farm land and relies heavily on cheap Mexican labour so the push for innovation isn't there to such a degree.

The same can be seen in the dairy and lumber industries. In those cases political ideology also plays a part. We have highly regulated industries which encourages long term growth and investment in advancing technology. The US desires a more "free market" approach which encourages undercutting of prices and uncertainty for producers so they are reluctant to invest long term when they don't know if they will be around next week. The quota system for milk (for example) allows a farmer to invest in a business that will be viable over his or her lifetime and it can also be handed down to the next generation. That encourages long term investment to become more productive and maximize profit.

Cars, electronics, furniture, fashion... if you want cheap we look to China but for innovative we look to European design. German engineering, Italian design, Swiss accuracy. Recently Asia has taken a lead as well but in NA we have become primarily consumers of other nations ideas and not producers. Look at almost any high tech device or product and ask where it comes from.

That's just what I see but it doesn't mean there aren't innovative people in NA.