Introduction

This chapter provides a concise introduction to the book. It covers the origin of innovation and introduces the fundamental perspective that innovation should be treated as a scientific discipline. The chapter defines logical creative thinking (LCT) and identifies application domains for LCT methods. LCT posits innovation as a search process and innovators as explorers and consists of a system of logical search methods to identify novel, non-obvious, and valuable concepts. Initially, the two domains likely to benefit the most from LCT are commerce and art. In commerce, LCT can be applied not just to product and service innovation, but to the whole array of associated functions. In art, LCT can be used to design plots and stories, create a unique style (e.g., by an artist), and develop characters, among other possible applications. The chapter concludes with a brief description of the relationship between LCT and other innovation tools.