Creativity and Stages of creativity

The terms creativity and innovation are often used to mean the same thing, but each has a unique connotation. Creativity is ‘’ the ability to bring something new into existence.”This emphasizes the “ability,” not the “activity,” of bringing something new into existence.


A person may therefore conceive of something new and envision how it will be useful, but not
necessarily take the necessary action to make it a reality. Innovation is the process of doing new things. It is the conversion of creative ideas into market place reality, which people are prepared to buy. This distinction is significant. Ideas have little value until they are converted into new products, services, or processes. Innovation, therefore, is the transformation of creative ideas into useful applications but creativity is prerequisite to innovation.

Stages of  Creativity:

1. Idea germination
Exactly how an idea is germinated is a mystery; it is not something that can be examined under the microscope. For most entrepreneurs, ideas begin with interest in a subject or curiosity about finding a solution to a particular problem.

2. Preparation
Once a seed of curiosity has taken form as a focused idea, creative people embark on a conscious search for answers. If it is a problem they are trying to solve, then they begin an intellectual journey, seeking information about the problem and how others have tried to resolve it. Inventors will set up laboratory experiments, designers will begin engineering new product ideas, and marketers will study consumer buying behaviour.

3. Incubation
The idea, once seeded and given substance through preparation, is put on a back burner, the subconscious mind is allowed time to assimilate information. Incubation is a stage of
‘mulling it over’. When an individual has consciously worked to resolve a problem without
success, allowing it to incubate in the subconscious will often lead to a resolution.

4. Illumination
Illumination occurs when the idea surfaces as a realistic creation. This stage is critical for entrepreneurs because ideas, by themselves, have little meaning. Reaching the illumination stage separates daydreamers and tinkerers from creative people who find a way to transmute values.

5. Verification
An idea once illuminated in the mind of an individual still has little meaning until verified as realistic and useful. Thus, verification is the development stage of refining knowledge into application.