I've been been playing around with some concepts in my mind for a while, as i have thoughts of stepping into a new world.  Not sure where its all going yet but the journey's exciting, and the passion's there!

First steps have been to really study areas like blogging, social software and social networking, new generation cultures of use - both at a personal level and in the context of their more practical applications - as research tools, as more effective business intelligence or KM systems.  What better way than to jump right in, participate in the evolution of these memes, and dialogue with so many folk around the world, and learn everyday from these experiences.  

Taking a step back .. or forward (its how you see these things) - here are some concepts i've been pondering - action versus motivation; inspiration; creativity and innovation.  Some may call this intellectualisation, others a waste of time.  I call it a journey, chaotic yet exciting, a process necessary to "give birth to a dancing star"   (Nietzche - the full quote - one of my favourites : "You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star").

Then i see this post at Ideaflow ... excerpt follows :

" 'People always tend to use the terms innovation and creativity interchangeably. We're very clear about the linkages and the distinction. Creativity is getting the great ideas, it's sort of the R&D, and everybody is creative, everybody has got great ideas, every organisation has more great ideas than it can ever implement or bring into the marketplace.' Innovation, however, is 'creativity implemented', he [Arnold Wasserman of The Idea Factory]  points out. 'It's taking creative ideas and bringing them into the world so that they change lives, and so they also change the organisations that bring them into the world.' "

The quote above come from an Asia Business Times article published April 8, 2003 (original article is now archived -- the link is to a Google cache page, so check it out before it goes away!. I couldn't find a working link to The Idea Factory, a Singapore-based consultancy founded by John Kao).

This seems to be something of a facile distinction that relegates creativity only to idea fluency, and relegates innovation only to some advanced form of project management. So I don't think that's it, and I don't think that's what Joyce had in mind either.

But it's an interesting starting place for a discussion. Is some innovation more creative than others, some creativity more innovative? What makes an idea innovative? Simply that it can be implemented within a company's business model? That it leads to a "disruptive" business model or technology? What's the difference between a creative idea and an un-creative idea?

[Corante: IdeaFlow]

It got me thinking further.

Is there a significant difference between creativity and innovation .... is creativity more to do with expressions and ideas and abilities, and innovation taking those ideas further into implementation ? Is it the difference between discovery and invention ? Or expression versus invention ?

Is creativity the process and innovation a possible outcome ? Is creativity a way of life ... and innovation a happening?

The word innovation implies creativity - without creativity there cannot be innovation. But the reverse maynot be true. 

I like this distinction - "Is innovation the practical application of creative thought?" - Filipczak.  Is it the difference between discovery and invention ?  Or expression versus invention ? Art is Expression not an invention. An electric bulb is an invention not an expression. Invention generally serves some specific purpose of the greater populace. Expression is a fulfilment of a personal desire.

During the Renaissance, inventors and artists, creative expression and innovation were almost synonymous.  Think of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

Today perhaps with so much specialisation, we see few Renaissance Men and fewer Renaissance teams.