Answer #1

Creativity and innovation are two phenomenons perceived to have same meaning but in actuality they don’t. The confusion may have aroused because of the connection between the two, but in totality both are used differently in many aspects and convey individual significance.

Creativity is defined as the ability to come up with something new and original that offers some kind of importance in the form of a solution, a work of art, a product, and much more. Innovation is modifying an existing practice, method, or a product by applying or introducing new methods or things.

To make the differentiation more clear, most of the scientific and technological advances that we have now are primarily a product of man’s creativity. Take the cellular phone as an example which was once creatively intended for taking voice calls anywhere and everywhere. After a year or two, innovation comes in and a new generation of cellular phones was launched from receiving text messages, to installing FM radio and camera, up to the most recent that is touch enabled screen and internet connectivity.

According to Theodore Levitt, an American economist and university lecturer at Harvard business school, “creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things”. When someone has come up with a fresh product, anybody can declare that he/she has created it. Innovation is only used when an existing product is further enhanced and developed by the same person(s) or other people.

At some point, creativity is a prerequisite to innovation. It is an essential aspect of innovation as any product has to start from its conception where creativity is needed. Having said these, it can be assumed that innovation rely upon creativity while creativity does not rely upon innovation. However, innovation is essential to creativity because the former materializes the latter. And that the success of creativity depends on how innovation is applied.

Answered By: khristine [216 ]