ABSTRACT
Whereas innovation is considered by most to be something more than creativity and mere ideas, it is difficult to imagine innovation without any sort of creativity or ideas. Likewise, ideas and creativity are naturally something more than innovation. Although it would be more simplified to assume creativity and ideas as a confined step in the innovation process, it is quite helpful to treat them separately.
We argue that creativity is an ability that is applied throughout the innovation process. Ideas, as a fruit of creativity, also run through the innovation process. At the same time, the managerial view that there is a start and end of an innovation process assumes that something comes before something else; in this view, the “right” set of ideas is considered a vital ingredient during the beginning of an innovation process.
There has been a significant focus on the early phase of the innovation process, often referred to as the “front-end of innovation.” Although innovation performance and success is not only dependent on the performance and success of the front-end of the process, it is understood that a poor outcome in this phase (i.e. poor ideas) is rarely considered a boon for the innovation process. We argue that an environment supportive of experimentation; managerial acceptance for failure, time, resources, incentives; and a healthy level of friction are positive for creativity and the generation of ideas.
