There are a lot of innovative ideas for electrical machines and there have been for a 100 years plus (the big advances usually come along when an enabling technology appears eg semiconductors, ferrite magnets).
But the innovations occupy relatively small application niches, they are not going to replace the induction motor. An example is the switched reluctance motor - a nice simple idea but only making tiny inroads. With most machines already being low cost and having efficiencies of 90% plus, you are only going to be working at the margins.
