I don't think builders reject carbon fiber as much as is sometimes implied. Maybe that is part of the marketing angle for certain products. Implying something has not gained acceptance because builders are too "traditional", and not due to a design weakness or poor design may draw in a certain group. Carbon fiber has many desirable qualities, and it is making its way into modern components everyday. The trick to any material we use is that it has to be used effectively(requires understanding of the design function as well as the material). Brace designs have been developed using wood, and the shape, way these parts are attached and so forth are based on wood and its unique directional strength and stability charictoristics. Although some features may take a similar form, taking advantage of structural design concepts. I would expect that an innovative carbon fiber bracing system could(and likely should) look different than what we see using wood. Really innovative use of the material is not going to come about from simply replacing wood with a smaller amount of fiber(Spruce is pretty darn efficient in terms of weight to stiffness, and there is only so much advantage to be had in that sense). A person with serious insight into building and design(and is thinking outside the box), along with research and development could lead to something very worthy of being called innovative.
Just my 2 cents
Rich
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