I have played a lot of games that I have won despite being out-teched. I think this is going to diminish somewhat now that established Inno players are gaining some experience, but it is worth noting that low-level achievements are just as valuable as any other. They're all 1/6 of a win.
The thing is that while low level achievements are worth the same as high level ones, there are also other priorities you have to consider, like setting up your board. If you’re just scoring with Agriculture or something, you’re going to quickly find yourself behind and unable to actually get the higher achievements. The Dominion analogue is buying a Province on turn 3-4. Sure it’s worth as much as a Province later, but it puts you behind someone who is building an engines to reliably get Provinces later.
The balance is going to be a little different from Dominion because trying to build up to an engine is not going to be as reliable due to the sheer randomness involved in Innovation, and as Dominion players, we tend to err on the side of overbuilding. I do think, however, that just as in Dominion, when skill level increases, the balance of early scoring/achieving vs building is going to shift more towards building.