Hello world, in our continuous quest to legitimate wealth, have we ever taught of how creative or innovative everybody could be? It is very important to be creative and innovative in all our endeavors in our different works of life. For identification of opportunities is the central domain of entrepreneurs. The question of how, when, why keeps popping up in their mind. That is an avenue for perfection or moderation in whatever arises; creativity and innovation. As I am sure most people will define the term creativity and innovation as synonyms just like I used to. They are two different terms aiming at the same output.

Creativity is defined as the generation of ideas that results in improved efficiency and effectiveness of a system. Creativity in other words, is having the mental prowess to cook up solutions to problems that arise within a system.

Innovation on the other hand can be defined as the process by which Entrepreneurs convert opportunities into marketable solutions. Creativity must have happened for innovation to happen by converting ideas and opportunities into marketable solutions and business venture.

Sources of Innovation

Trends: Entrepreneurs are known for thinking outside the box. Most entrepreneurs get creative with what most of the population see as a problem. They identify the problem and find away to turn it into a marketable good. It takes a lot of thinking outside the box and moving in the opposite direction to be creative sometimes.” Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." --Albert Einstein

Unexpected Occurrences: These are ideas or opportunities that arise from unanticipated or unplanned event. A lot of tactical solutions are needed when some unexpected occurrence happens and those solutions could be very marketable.

Incongruities: There are so many innovations that can come from what people think it’s impossible or not realistic. The ability to differentiate between expectations and reality. In the United States, FedEx is a good example. When Fred Smith proposed to run an overnight postal service, people taught if it was a good and profitable idea, the U.S. post office would be doing it. He started FedEx which turned out to be a success and he was right by the way.

Process Needs: The need for certain ventures call for innovative ideas and they are often refered to as pains that occur in Market places.

INDUSTRY AND MARKET CHANGES

Continual shifts in the marketplace are caused by developments such as consumer attitudes, advancements in technology, and industry growth. Industries and markets always undergo changes in structure, design, or definition. An example can be found in the health care industry—hospital care has undergone radical changes, and home health care and preventive medicine have replaced hospitalization and surgery as primary focus areas. The entrepreneur needs to be aware of and seize these emerging opportunities.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES

These arise from trend changes in population, age, education, occupations, geographic loca- tions, and similar factors. Demographic shifts are important and often provide new entre- preneurial opportunities. For example, as the average population age in Florida and Arizona has increased (due largely to the influx of retirees), land development, recreational, and health care industries all have profited.

PERCEPTUAL CHANGES

These are changes that occur in people’s interpretation of facts and concepts. Perceptual changes are intangible but meaningful. Perception can cause major shifts in ideas to take place. The current fitness craze, caused by the perceived need to be healthy and physically fit, has created a demand for both health foods and health facilities throughout the country. Another example is people’s desire to better use their personal time. As a result, the travel industry has capitalized on consumers’ current need to “see the world” while they are young and healthy, and time-share condominiums and travel clubs have increased.

KNOWLEDGE-BASED CONCEPTS

These are the basis for the creation or development of something brand new. Inventions are knowledge based; they are the product of new thinking, new methods, and new knowledge. Such innovations often require the longest time period between initiation and market implementation because of the need for testing and modification. For example, today’s cell phone technology has advanced to include not just phone service but cameras, Internet access, and music. This has revolutionized the way we use different technologies today.

Types of Innovation

Four basic types of innovation exist. These extend from the totally new to modifications of existing products or services. Following are the four types, in order of originality:

• Invention: the creation of a new product, service, or process often one that is novel or untried. Such concepts tend to be “revolutionary.”

• Extension: the expansion of a product, service, or process already in existence. Such concepts make a different application of a current idea.

• Duplication: the replication of an already existing product, service, or process. The duplication effort, however, is not simply copying but adding the entrepreneur’s own creative touch to enhance or improve the concept and beat the competition.

• Synthesis: the combination of existing concepts and factors into a new formulation. This involves taking a number of ideas or items already invented and finding a way that they can form a new application.