ABSTRACT

Creativity and innovation are seen as critically important in many applied domains of endeavor, such as business, science, engineering, and the arts. However, creativity is difficult to define, and creative products are not universally judged as such by all experts. Moreover, a consensual blueprint or formula for producing creative products does not exist, nor is a deterministic method for producing creative products likely to emerge in the near future. Worse yet, creativity is different for different people-it varies from one domain to another, from one society to another, and from one historical period to another. In short, creativity is something we desperately need, but we do not know how to get it, and we are not really sure what it is. How can one possibly find anything universal to say about this slippery subject?