Since we're currently in a solar minimum (which reduces the propagation of radio signals here on Earth, and generally makes it more difficult to make long-range contacts), you would expect innovation to be happening in... making contacts in high-noise conditions! That's exactly what is happening with FT-8, WSPR, etc. The thing that excites me most about FT8 is that its implementation (https://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html) is open source, which means you can decide to modify or improve it without asking permission. That's exactly what the author of JS8CALL did -- he took FT8, which was designed for short "call sign and signal" contacts, and turned it into a conversational protocol (http://js8call.com/). The ability of FT8 and its descendants to transmit information waaaaay down in the noise is pretty awesome, and I hope it spawns at thousand imitators.