I'm familiar with the type of people you're describing, they are curios and creative and constantly looking for ways to improve things, these people are very ra

I'm familiar with the type of people you're describing, they are curios and creative and constantly looking for ways to improve things, these people are very rare (particularly in academia?) and really not easy to find. I don't think these criteria you mentioned will help since most of them are not necessary personal qualities, they are rather a group culture. If there are established good practices in the group (at minimum using version control, doing regular backups) new people will follow. I agree with you about the absurdity of the number of publications factor giving that the asymmetry between the values of publications.