Generally we see dreams as a subconscious state. We are asleep.

We see being awake as consciousness. And we are not dreaming...

But, what if the subconsciousness was still quite active, and just as dreams mix events places and all informational matters... what if they did it while we were conscious. Imagine the "immediate dream" where sensory information being taken in effects the underlying dream (Just as it does when you really are asleep) but also past items of information. What if, various events in that dream were so interesting or important that they "woke up" and jumped into the conscious mind. The Eureka. (Note, I am effectively trying to show that the active subconscious mind is like the dream state and is churning away doing all sorts of weird and wonderful things, you can be perfectly awake but the subconscious does not rest).

However, remember the illogicality of dreams and the combinational way they put everything together is what makes them so powerful if they were idea generating. It’s randomness.

Which begs the question... Are innovators able to have "semi structured dreams". (I think so, its like a "directional thinking subconsciousness"). Also, do some people have a better subconsciousness?? Like, if you dream in colour, does that point to greater interaction of various parts of the brain??