And the problem with secondary information is that everyone else has access to it. It doesn't give you an advantage. You won't gain an advantage over other people unless you spend more time and money than they do. That means subscribing to syndicated services and databases - and, in some cases, paying people to work those databases. But ultimately, you want information that can't be found in any database.
Human intelligence beats machine intelligence.
Most information never gets written down - it's just floating in people's heads. The only way to access that information is to talk to people. That's why the most valuable network is the human network. If you find an interesting paper on the Web, don't just download it - call the author after you read it. Attending conferences is still the best way to make connections and gather intelligence.