Innovation, Creativity and Design

Definitions Paper Sherryl Anderson University of Phoenix John Soltys This paper is about comparing and contrasting the terms – innovation, creativity and design. The definition of innovation is “the introduction of something new; a new idea, method or device.” (Merriam-Webster, 2008). At a business standpoint, innovation can occur and should be encouraged at all levels within a company from top level executives to lower level managers and individual contributors. Thus an innovation may be a product, a process, or a system, but it is more than an idea. It has to be converted from an idea into action. In the continuously and rapidly changing world of business, innovation is a key to success. The definition for creativity that will be used in this paper is a mental process that involves the generation of new ideas or concepts. Creativity is generally used to refer to producing new ideas, advances, or procedures, while innovation is the process of both making and applying such creative ideas in some specific context. In a business format, the term innovation is often used to refer to the entire process by which an organization generates creative new ideas and converts them into novel, useful and viable commercial products, services, and business practices, while the term creativity is reserved to apply specifically to the generation of novel ideas by individuals or groups, as a necessary step within the innovation process. In the rest of the world, the two terms can mean about the same, without having a real difference between the two. Design is defined as “the conscious decision-making process by which information (an idea) is transformed into an outcome, be it tangible (product) or intangible (service). Design is about doing things consciously, and not because they have always done in a certain way, it is about comparing alternatives to select the best possible solution it is about exploring and experimenting.” (Stamm, 2003) Design and innovation seem to go

References: Merriam-Webster. (2008). Retrieved September 14, 2008 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creative Stamm, B. (2003). _Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity (1st ed.) _West Sussex, England: Wiley.