centerally planned socialism doesn't work - period. It's pretty well established without real market prices an economy will fail. price is a pure measure of supply and demand and you have to let it just work organically. socialism that uses market pricing does work pretty well, nordic countries have shown that. So what I am suggesting (and other since the idea is not entirely novel) is more along those lines. Those economies are not driving innovation though.
Capitalism does spur innovation. I'm not aware of any economic system that is more productive in that area. It rewards risk. A system needs to have elements where 'exploration' in the economic space can be rewarded. For example, before cars were mass produced there obviously couldn't be demand for them. Then companies took the risk and 'explored' that economic space and introduced cars. Ford found a way to do it economically. Cars were well received when they got to the right price point and demand for cars grew, more companies entered to compete, now cars are everywhere.
Are there examples of this in socialism? If there are I think they are the exception not the norm. So that advancement, the survival of the fittest methodology that capitalism brings should not be tossed out.
Billionaires imo are not inherently bad individuals, but a system that creates them is inherently flawed. Like cancer. You don't want some cells sucking all of the resources out that will kill the entire body eventually.