The main difference between creativity and innovation is the focus. Creativity is about unleashing the potential of the mind to conceive new ideas. Innovation is about introducing change into relatively stable systems. It’s also concerned with the work required to make an idea viable.

Innovation is the process by which entrepreneurs convert opportunities into marketable ideas. Creativity, in the entrepreneurial context, is the generation of ideas that result in the improved efficiency or effectiveness of a system. True. Creativity cannot be developed or improved.

Let us start with some definitions: Creativity is the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual. Innovation is the implementation of something new. Invention is the creation of something that has never been made before and is recognized as the product of some unique insight.

In Oxford Living Dictionaries, creativity is defined as “the use of imagination or original ideas to create something.” Innovation, on the other hand, means “a new method, idea, product, etc.” For that, you’ll need a creative team that’s able to bring an innovative idea to action.

The four different types of innovation mentioned here – Incremental, Disruptive, Architectural and Radical – help illustrate the various ways that companies can innovate. There are more ways to innovate than these four. The important thing is to find the type(s) that suit your company and turn those into success.

Examples of product innovations: Lego has been changing the materials of its famous bricks to biodegradable oil-based plastics. The first electric vehicles introduced in the car’s market were also an innovation, and new batteries with longer ranges that keep coming out are also an example of innovation.

The five innovation models are:

• Employee innovation (already published)
• Customer innovation (already published)
• Partner/supplier innovation (already published)
• Competitor innovation (already published)
• Public innovation.

16 Examples of Open Innovation – What Can We Learn From Them?

• Quirky – Crowdsourcing product ideas to be manufactured.
• Samsung – Diverse types of collaboration.
• Local Motors – Co-Creation in a community.
• United Genomes Project – Openness Accelerating Science.
• Lego – Creating new products from community ideas.
• Mozilla – Motivating the community.

Essentially, there are three types of innovation: product innovation, process innovation and business model innovation. These types of innovation can include breakthrough innovation (very rare) or incremental innovation(much more common).

Six Types of Innovation

• Product — what we produce and sell.
• Service — exceeding customer expectations.
• Process — continuous improvement of how we do things.
• Management — business strategies, systems and structures.
• Open — working beyond boundaries and collaborating globally.

Positioning Innovation is about repositioning, taking a product or service and offering it in a new market, or with a new slant. A recent good example would be AirBNB, originally positioned around conferences before moving into the general holiday and traveller industry.

Human mind

They go out looking for innovation opportunities in seven key areas:

• Unexpected occurrences. These often include failures.
• Incongruities.
• Process needs.
• Industry and market changes.
• Demographic changes.
• Changes in perception.
• New knowledge.

The Four Key Elements of Innovation: Collaboration, Ideation, Implementation and Value Creation. Innovation requires collaboration, ideation, implementation and value creation.

How to identify innovation opportunities in your business

1. Analogous business. Examine what other innovative companies are doing to successfully move their business forward.
2. Surging trends.
3. Extreme customers.
4. Customer needs: Addressing frustrations, concerns and complaints.
5. Collaboration: Putting ideas into action.

6 Unexpected Places to Look for Innovative Ideas

• Visit an art museum. “Art museums take experiences of the world and capture them in new ways that express the human experience and human potential,” says consultant and speaker Erica Dhawan.
• Empower your employees.
• Take a long drive.
• Go shopping.
• Find the right metaphor.
• Freak yourself out.

Four ways to identify more business opportunities

1. Listen to your potential clients and past leads. When you’re targeting potential customers listen to their needs, wants, challenges and frustrations with your industry.
2. Listen to your customers.
3. Look at your competitors.
4. Look at industry trends and insights.

21 Great Ways to Innovate

1. Copy someone else’s idea. One of the best ways to innovate is to pinch an idea that works elsewhere and apply it in your business.
2. Ask customers.
3. Observe customers.
4. Use difficulties and complaints.
5. Combine.
6. Eliminate.
7. Ask your staff.
8. Plan.

Innovation comes from focus, discipline and patience. These days, everyone is obsessed with squeezing every ounce of personal productivity and self-improvement out of themselves. That only takes you further away from innovation. Innovation comes from focusing on one thing and letting everything else fade to black.

These Innovative Ideas Are Beyond Awesome

• Banana skin caution wet floor signs. Fun caution signs shaped like slippery bananas.
• Basket ball hoop over trash can.
• Create your own 6-pack machine.
• Rechargeable USB batteries.
• Slides beside stairs.
• Green and red parking lights.
• Mug coaster that converts cold/heat to charge your device.
• Anti-tangle earphones.

5 Ways to Improve Your Creative Thinking

1. Create your own “Three Ifs” Many good innovators take an existing object and ask clever questions to twist the very concept of it and make it new.
2. Practice dreaming.
3. Make time for cohesive creative thinking.
4. Learn to pitch your ideas (in an elevator)
5. Bounce ideas off others.

The definition of innovative thinking is the ability to come up with new ideas and novel approaches to problems. It is about being creative and flexible. The definition of innovative thinking is the ability to come up with new ideas and novel approaches to problems.

With creative thinking, problems can be solved differently and strategically. The right innovative techniques can help you save precious time and money, and give you a competitive lead in expanding your business. Tremendous efficiencies are experienced because of the development and use of new strategies.