Creativity and Innovation: The Mind Unleashed.

What is Creativity? What is Innovation? We can define creativity as the spirit, attitude and bravery to try something new, to open to the unexpected. Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Creativity is the thinking process and innovation is the production process.

We can define innovation as the implementation of something new. We can further expand on its definition by describing innovation as Innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product, service or process that creates value for business, government or society.
Some people say creativity has nothing to do with innovation— that innovation is a discipline, implying that creativity is not. Well, I disagree. Creativity is also a discipline and a crucial part of the innovation equation. There is no innovation without creativity. The key metric in both creativity and innovation is value creation.

Creativity is connected to various parts of the brain. Each part provides the thinking ability needed for each type of creative thought process.

Creativity can be described as ; Deliberate and emotional, deliberate and cognitive, spontaneous and emotional and spontaneous and cognitive.

1. Deliberate and emotional creativity is related to taking control of emotions in all kinds of stressful times, including the most stressful ones. This can be such as during a relationship break-up and then as quick as a flash a sudden insight about oneself. It is an "AHA" moment. It has to do with feelings and emotions. The cingulate cortex is the part of the brain that processes complex feelings that are related to our interactions with others and our place in the world.
The cingulate cortex along with the pre-frontal cortex, which it is attached to, are active with this kind of creative activity.

In this kind of creativity, we lay aside things and allow ourselves a block of time to focus on a challenge.

2. Deliberate and cognitive creativity is requiring vast amounts of knowledge or a high degree of knowledge and lots of time.  This kind of creativity is related to working over long periods of time in a specific task or discipline. This can be such as those of the efforts of Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb. 

The PFC in the brain gives this sort of creativity. The PFC allows us to do two things: pay focused attention and make connections among information that we have stored in other parts of our brains.

3. Spontaneous and emotional creativity is the kind associated with musicians and artists. It cannot be designed for. It is a creative and powerful moment such as an epiphany, religious experience, a great artistic or musical moment. 

It comes from the amyglada in the brain. It is where emotions are processed. When the conscious brain and the PFC are resting, then it is possible spontaneous ideas and creations to take place.

4. Spontaneous and cognitive creativity requires stopping work on a task or a problem and getting away from it. It cannot be designed for. It does need a body of knowledge. 

This can be seen in cases such as that of Issac Newton who watched an apple fall from a tree and conceived the laws of gravity. It can like where one leaves a difficult task or a problem and go for a jog, a walk or for lunch and a flash of insight arrives about how to solve the problem. 

This kind of creativity involves the basal ganglia of the brain. During this kind of creativity, the conscious brain has stopped working on the problem. Hence, the unconscious brain has had a chance to work on it instead. By doing a different unrelated activity, the PFC is able to connect information in new ways via the unconscious mental processing.

Innovation has myriad definitions. It can be defined as the introduction of something new. It can be defined as a significant and positive change with not just creating an idea but also implementing it so that it creates value.

Innovation requires a lot of hard work, patience, and perseverance. Creativity is an active process and an important block for innovation. It is at the heart of innovation. 



Creativity vs Innovation

1. Creativity is the bravery to try something new. Innovation is the implementation of something new.

2. Creativity is related to imagination and innovation is related to implementation.

3.Creativity is the ability to produce and innovation is the introduction of new things.

4. Creativity is bringing into existence an idea that is new to you. Innovation is the practical application of creative ideas.