Of ideas and ideation...anybody, any ideas??

An idea is an idea - nothing less; nothing more. Truly speaking ; ideas should have no patents on them. They can erupt anytime anywhere. So how does it matter who thinks of an idea first? There is no easy reckoner possible of them. Here, in the marketplace of ideas an"original" only means zilch for an idea to grow organically, something's got to give - a seminal exchange( don't ask me why I need to rule out exchange of body fluids here but that's for another day), a dialogue perhaps, or a one-on-one for that vague semblance of an idea to morph into something bigger yet better. Still, why is it that some great ideas fail to take off while other lesser ones do not? What sense do we have if any, of "the idea" behind an idea that is either going to make or break it?
For the most part some of the more groundbreaking of ideas are simple, and as a rule of thumb never any complex spin-offs of the received wisdom at the time. I do not know about you but I certainly buy into this whole thing of the English and the Scots being the better innovators and the Japanese and the Americans ; the better end-users.
Any takes on what should be an ideal setting for incubation of ideas and for taking them from the bench to the bedside?!

And last but not the least, what is the idea behind floating of ideas as some kind of "commodities" that need protection through trade barriers and legislation?

If indeed you have ideas on this, you know where to ideate!