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I've been trying to piece this together ever since I've started playing, and from what I remember is that new technology either comes from newly found ancient tech, and innovation of a splinter cell of techpriests and such who don't believe innovation is heresy. Does that sound right? I'm sure that the Imperium isn't going anywhere soon, but are they actually figuring things out, or are they just dancing in circles around dusty old blueprints for an icecream maker?
Take for example the Leman Russ Demolisher. In the IG codex, it's stated that this is a recent addition to the Imperial Guard armory. Is this because a genius techmarine slapped a minigun on a tank, or because they found a picture of this under a pile of books?

I need to know if humanity has even the slightest chance to get the ball rolling again.

"Research" under the Adeptus Mechanicus is more like archaeology. It revolves around rediscovering STC templates, or new variants of existing ones. Much of this therefore is just a simple weapon swap or other minor differences rather than anything revolutionary.

However, there do seem to be some "new" designs such as the Infidel class ship (before it was stolen for Chaos use), however it is sometimes difficult to determine if these new designs are genuinely new or rediscoveries. The problem is the Adeptus Mechanicus theology paradigm. Since the STC is held to have held all knowledge worth knowing, everything ends up being justified as being a rediscovery or permissible variant, even if perhaps it might not truly be the case.

The other thing about the Imperium is that technology doesn't progress linearly. Different fields seem to advance (or regress) at different rates, in a "1 step forward, 2 steps back" fashion. An example of this is in BFG. Older ships have longer range guns, faster engines, and an entire class of ships (grand cruisers) fell out of favor once powerful enough engines could no longer be produced. However at the same time, the invention (or rather rediscovery) of superfired plasma weaponry led to the creation of the Tyrant class cruiser, and the Firestorm frigate was created by modifying a Sword class frigate. Arguably these latter are just tweaks or rediscovering rather than genuine innovation.

Ultimately the Adeptus Mechanicus with its practice of hoarding information even within itself is not conducive to advancement or peer review. Even there heretics like the Dark Mechanicus or the Logicians (detailed in the FFG's RPGs) are really more the "mad scientist" trope of someone tinkering away in a haphazard fashion than a true scientific method of peer reviewed research and development.

@OP; firstly the minigun tank is the punisher, and IMO and most other peoples, the tech-priest who designed it didnt do a very good job (it sucks). he may have had the blueprints upside down or something.

secondly, technology in 40k is by no means universal. levels of understanding differ greatly between forge worlds and whole technologies can be lost if a key forge world is captured by the enemy.

other than that, Iracundus sums it up pretty much

Just a thought, sometimes in sci-fi fantasy stories, earths technologies advance via reverse engineering salvaged alien tech. Can't the IoM just basically do this to help things along? or do they consider usage of Xenos Technology Heretical like a lot of other things out there?

Use of Xeno tech is heretical. Some times people get away with it though.

They find STC's for any new developments. Any other kind of major innovation or deviation from the tech used for the last 10,000 years is considered heretical. It's one of the reasons the IoM is regressing technologically after the Millennia.

Viersche wrote:Just a thought, sometimes in sci-fi fantasy stories, earths technologies advance via reverse engineering salvaged alien tech. Can't the IoM just basically do this to help things along? or do they consider usage of Xenos Technology Heretical like a lot of other things out there?

They sometimes do reverse engineer xeno technology, but a lot of the time its either less efficient, worse or impractical to replicate. Necron technology is difficult to reverse engineer as most (or all) of it Phases out if severely damaged, Eldar technology often uses psycho-reactive materials that the Imperium may struggle to use on a wide scale, as well as being designed for alien warriors who may perceive things differently, Ork tellyporta technology is more advanced than that of the Imperiums but the Orks themselves do not know how it works. Pretty much the only known species that has technology worth reverse engineering is the Tau, and I've heard that they are actually reverse engineering their Stealth Suits. Even still, STC designs are usually the most cost-efficient.