Prototypes came up with Micro-USB and USB-C before either were released to the public, which then - in millions of tests - realized these are nimble things that break easily as compared to the rather robust Lightning connector.

Creating something in isolation, with virtually no chance of it becoming "allowed" by an hostile state actor is nice, expensive, and thus won't happen. If you want to figure out if an idea works, lots and lots of field tests are what you want.

Why bother? The competition can't out-compete because it'll be illegal. And the most likely outcome of a prototyping project is people will say "looks nice" then not bother to seriously consider it.

The EU is never going to produce a charger that isn't backwards compatible with USB-C. They'd better hope nobody comes up with a cheaper alternative that catches on in Asia.