Creativity, Innovation, and Science Separate and Distinct or Not?
By Kal Bishop
There
is a pervasive belief that creativity and innovation are separate and
distinct from the concept of science. That creativity and innovation
cannot be scientific. This is completely false.
An event begins to fall into the realms of science
when experiments are repeatable and the results reproducible. The
myth that creativity occurs out of the blue combines to create the
impression that it is impossible to design repeatable experiments
that generate reproducible results.
One useful definition for this article is to define
creativity as problem identification and idea generation and innovation
as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
To make creativity scientific, ask two questions:
a) Can repeatable experiments (processes, structures
etc) be designed to increase problem identification? Is an increase
of output reproducible?
b) Can repeatable experiments (processes, structures
etc) be designed to increase idea generation? Is an increase of output
reproducible?
To make innovation scientific, ask three questions:
a) Can repeatable experiments (processes, structures
etc) be designed to increase idea selection effectiveness? Is an increase
of output reproducible?
b) Can repeatable experiments (processes, structures
etc) be designed to increase development output? Is an increase of
output reproducible?
c) Can repeatable experiments (processes, structures
etc) be designed to increase commercialisation output? Is an increase
of output reproducible?
Answering the above:
a) It is not unusual for people to agree that repeatable
experiments (processes, structures etc) can be designed to increase
problem identification. Results an increase of output - are reproducible.
b) When people need to generate ideas, they will herd
people into a room with a flip chart and conduct an idea brainstorming
session. Implicit in this action is the acceptance that certain processes
and structures etc... increase idea generation. In fact there are
an infinite number of processes and structures that increase idea
generation and make insight more likely (see MBA dissertation at www.managing-creativity.com).
Results an increase of output - are reproducible.
c) It is not unusual for people to agree that repeatable
experiments (processes, structures etc) can be designed to increase
problem idea selection effectiveness. Results an increase of output
- are reproducible.
d) It is not unusual for people to agree that repeatable
experiments (processes, structures etc) can be designed to increase
development output. Results an increase of output - are reproducible.
e) It is not unusual for people to agree that repeatable
experiments (processes, structures etc) can be designed to increase
commercialisation output. Results an increase of output - are reproducible.
In conclusion, given the nature of creativity and
innovation, it may not be possible to design repeatable experiments
that produce exactly the same ideas, but it is possible to design
repeatable experiments that always produce an increase in idea generation.
Though you cannot predict what an idea will be, where it will occur
and what form it will take you can increase the likelihood of ideas
occurring. Further, you can increase the number of ideas produced,
the rarity of those ideas, the diversity of those ideas and the frequency
of their production.
There is much more to this
This topic is covered in depth in the MBA dissertation
on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along
with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software
and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com.
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You are free to reproduce this article as long
as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.
Kal Bishop MBA is a management consultant based
in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries
and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led
Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in
San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays.
He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com
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