Innovation, Invention, Creativity & Ideas

So, for the past few years, the buzz word was (and still is) Innovation! As always, it came from the West.. i became interested since one of my passion is processes & wanna know the-how, what's involved to keep it sustainable.. Well, i think i found some answers after months of searhing & re-searching..

But first, let me write down my understanding of ideas, innovation, invention & creativity. Definitely, they are not mutually exclusive. They need one another to succeed. I see creativity as a key ingredient in the minds for invention & innovation to occur. And i see invention as the key ingredient in the actions that produced the first new 'material' that the world had yet seen. And i see innovation as using these 'materials' - old or new - to create useful products & services for the world to consume.

'Material' - can be any form that can be used. e.g. technology, concept, chemical,..

Ideas are the outputs that spring from the minds due to creativity that could trigger off an invention or innovation - which is the outcome we want that are still notions in the minds.

For innovation to succeed, it cant be based on a few brilliant people in the organisation. It may do well in the short term but long term wise, it's unwise. Research has shown that it's the innovation processes, which is the key! Not simply the people involved.. Yes, it's true! Processes are the assurance to a continued success for highly innovative companies. People come and people go. Ideas can come from anyone. Therefore, innovative firms just keep learning, re-learning & improving their innovation processes in managing & generating ideas. For example, few people realised that recruitment process, talent mgmt or human capital mgmt is strongly linked to innovation. Innovative firms consciously focused their energy in hiring the best people & developing them so that they can work at their peak & produced those innovation! And they are doing just that consistently to assure their eternal success - not just based on one batch of brillant folks! That's the differentiating factor!