The difference between GPL and BSD as far as innovation is concerned is the style of innovation that they support.
GPL assumes (and supports) evolutionary, incremental innovation. One person has a little idea, another builds on it and so on until the end of time. The GPL stops people breaking the chain of innovation.
BSD assumes (and supports) creationist, all-at-once innovation. One person or small team has a grand idea, they implement it and that's it. It may spread far and wide, but nobody's expected to improve on it, really. The proprietary software model is similar, only more so: one company has whatever ideas it has and nobody else is expected to make any improvements at all.
Which model is better probably does depend on the situation; but I would suspect that most fields will do better with the incremental, GPL style.
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