Abstract

In the literature one can see the concept of creativity and innovation being used interchangeably. However, it should be pointed out that these are not identical concepts. The distinction between creativity and innovation is proposed by Amabile et al. (1996): “like other researchers, we define creativity as the production of novel and useful ideas in any domain. We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization”. Innovations include “a process of developing and implementing a new idea” (van de Ven, Angle, and Poole, 1989). The authors believe that “innovation refers to the process of bringing any new problem solving idea into use … it is the generation, acceptance, and implementation of new ideas, processes, products, or services”. On the other hand, creativity is perceived as the cause of action and creation, as well as the process of communication between innovation and the environment. It is connected with stimulating new thoughts, reformulating the existing knowledge, and analysing assumptions in order to formulate new ideas. It can therefore be concluded that creativity stimulates creating innovations.