Creativity Management

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

There's nothing new under the sun

There is a concept that creativity is the invention of something original. This is misleading:

a) Originality implies a break from the past. In fact, all ideas are evolutions of previous concepts.

b) Creativity is cumulative and incremental. Newton said he