It all sounds very great without anything really insightful (and of course implementation is the real hurdle). Except I'm unsure of doing pure "acqui-hires". If you're not interested in the project you just get people you risk loosing in the near future once the handcuffs come off. It seems an potentially expensive medium term strategy that is not scaleable. Why not put that money into teams and projects you want? Or fund your employees that have ideas?