Too often people confuse creativity with innovation. To me, creativity is about coming up with new ideas, while innovation is the application and (hopeful) success of those ideas.
Yet, when I think of innovation I don’t necessarily think first about products. Lately, there seems to be a lot of emphasis on this and understandably this is what innovation usually gets associated with.
But there are other ways of looking at innovation. I think more about innovation as creating new concepts – yes those concepts will probably end up as products – but I don’t believe innovation starts with products. Earlier this year, trendwatching.com published “Innovation Jubilation” 50+ new business ideas that defy doom and gloom. The article mentions everything from the DIY trend to mapmania as concepts that are transforming business.
Another useful way to look at innovation is personal innovation. This type of innovation involves improving you and your life. Matt Heinz recently posted about this in Five Ways to Create Innovation Throughout Your Life. He writes about using innovation to improve everything from you relationships to your future.
- What could you innovate?
This is right on, Melanie. There is a huge prevalence in innovation thinking right now that it is all about products, but innovation applies to every aspect of life – socially, culturally, and personally. Questions I’m asking myself lately include whether I’m stuck in a rut with the way I’m growing personally, how to get out of that rut, and if there are new ways I can stretch myself.
A very thought-provoking post- I want to let it marinate for a while!