Unit 2 (Creativity)

ENT600/UNIT 2: CREATIVITY 1Entrepreneurship Dept, FBM (2009)

UNIT 2:CREATIVITY, INNOVATION

IN TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP (ENT600)

ENT600/UNIT 2: CREATIVITY 2

Introduction

• Discovery of opportunity at the right time and place is the corner-stone of any entrepreneurial success

• Technopreneurs need to be creative in discovering new opportunities (in terms of products or services) either through invention or innovation.

Entrepreneurship Dept, FBM (2009)


What is Creativity?

• Creativity can be defined as the production of new and useful ideas as well as the ability to discover new ways of looking at problems and opportunities.

• It is the ability to use imagination to develop new ideas, new things or new solutions. These generation of ideas should lead to improve efficiency or effectiveness of a system

(Adapted from Fredrick et al., 2006 and Dorf and Byers, 2005)



Examples ►Creating the “NEW”o Knowledgeo Productso Processeso Serviceso Marketso Business modelso Raw materials

Creative ideas often arise when creative people observe established solutions, practices, or products and think of something new or different.



Creativity & Role of Teams

• Technology entrepreneurship is at its best when the creativity of a pool of people are consolidated as a team effort.

• Hence, creativity should be encouraged among team members or within an enterprise.



Six Resources of Creative Team/Enterprise

1. Knowledge in the required domain and fields i.e. in-depth knowledge of your industry.

2. Intellectual abilities to recognize connections, redefine problems, and envision and analyze possible practical ideas and solutions.

3. Inventive thinking about the problem in novel ways.

4. Motivation towards action.

5. Opportunity-oriented personality and openness to change.

6. Contextual understanding that supports creativity and mitigates risks.



Creativity Techniques

PROBLEM REVERSAL – look at the opposite of things, see things inside out, backwards or upside down.

FORCED ANALOGY - gain new insights by forcing a relationship between almost anything.

ATTRIBUTE LISTING - break down the “thing” into smaller parts or characteristics and develop ideas to improve on them.



Cont…Creativity Techniques

MIND MAPPING - starts in the centre of the page with the main idea, and works outward in all directions, producing a growing and organized structure composed of key words and key images.

BRAINSTORMING – generating ideas based on the principle of suspending judgments.

LATERAL THINKING - exploring multiple possibilities and approaches from different perspective rather than pursuing in a conventional, logical, step by step single approach. i.e. by changing concepts and perceptions, and generating new ones.



Creativity has three basic components:

• Knowledge

• Creative thinking skills

• Motivation

Three Components of Creativity



Cont…Three Components of Creativity

1. KNOWLEDGE• Knowledge refers to a confident

understanding of a subject with the ability to use it if applicable. It encompasses expertise, skills, familiarity and practical & theoretical understanding of a subject.

• Knowledge is gained by an individual through study or experience




2. CREATIVE THINKING SKILLSCreative thinking skills is the use of creative intelligence to approach problems and find solutions

Four styles of creative intelligence:

• Intuitive – focuses on results and relies on past experience to guide actions

• Innovative – concentrates on-problem solving, is systematic, and relies on data

• Imaginative – is able to visualize opportunities, is artistic, enjoys writing, and thinks “out of the box”

• Inspirational – focuses on social change and the giving of self toward an end




3. MOTIVATION

Motivation is in two forms:

Extrinsic Motivation comes from outside a person, whether the

motivation is a ‘carrot’ or a ‘stick’

Intrinsic Motivation a person’s internal desire to do something.

Satisfaction is derived from overcoming the challenge.



Phases of the Creative Process

Phase 1: Background or Knowledge Accumulation

• Study the background of the subject matter• This may requires extensive reading,

discussion with experts, practitioners, academicians, researchers in the field, attending workshops and seminars, exploring various unrelated areas etc.

• These explorations expose entrepreneurs to a variety of perspectives on the subject matter.



Cont…Phases of the Creative ProcessPhase 2: The Mind Incubation Process An individual immerse himself or herself in the

data, allowing the subconscious mind to muse or ponder on the information gathered.

“Sleep on it” …getting away from the subject matter and letting the subconscious mind working on it allows creativity to spring forth.

Incubation can be induced by: engaging in ‘mindless activities’ such as painting the house or cutting grass, meditate or play sports or board games. The rationale is new ideas often emerge when we are busy doing something unrelated to the matter.



Phase 3: The Idea Experience• This is when the person discovers the solution or the

idea. The idea may appear out of the blue or it may comes incrementally.

• At this phase, the person begins to formulate the solution.

• Most of the time it is difficult to tell the movement from phase 2 to phase 3.

• To expedite movement to idea experience a person can try to daydream and fantasies about the project and always keep a notebook to record emergence of ideas at odd hours.


Cont…Phases of the Creative Process


Phase 4: Evaluation and Implementation• This phase is the most difficult and requires

courage, discipline & perseverance.• There are a lot of possibilities of failures.• Ideas are modified and tested before the best

workable idea is put into a final form and successfully implemented.


Cont…Phases of the Creative Process


Blocks to Creativity

• Searching for the only ‘one’ right answer• Focusing on ‘being logical’• Blindly following the rules• Constantly being practical• Viewing play as frivolous• Becoming overly specialized• Avoiding ambiguity• Fearing looking foolish• Fearing mistakes and failure• Believing that “I’m not creative”



The Most Common Idea Stoppers

• “That doesn’t sound too practical”• “We’ve never done anything like that before.”• “Let’s get back to reality”• “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”• “We have already tried that – years ago.”• “I don’t see anything wrong with the way

we’re doing it now.”• “Are you kidding?”• “Where do you get these weird ideas?”



What is Innovation?

• Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service (Drucker, 1985).

• Innovation is the ability to apply creative solutions to problems and opportunities to enhance or to enrich people’s lives

• Entrepreneurs innovate by converting opportunities into marketable ideas (Kuratko, 2004).



Creativity, Innovation & Invention

• Creativity is thinking new things while innovation is doing new things.

• Invention on the other hand is often a product of research.

• Invention is the extreme and riskiest form of innovation and often associated with development of a new or better product or process (Burns, 2008).

• Not all inventions lead to a commercially viable output.



INTENSITY OF INNOVATION

Incremental Innovation

• Steady improvements• Based on sustaining

technologies• Obedience to cultural routines

and norms• Can be rapidly implemented• Immediate gains• Develop customer loyalty

Radical Innovation

• Fundamental rethink• Based on disruptive

technologies• Experimentation and

play/make-believe• Need to be nurtured for long

periods• Worse initial performance,

potential big gains• Create new markets



Examples of Incremental Innovations

• Mobile phone was regarded as a radical innovation (compared to the traditional ‘stationed’ phone) when it was first introduced to the market.

• As technology progresses, several features are progressively added to the phone to enhance its features & functions.

• These innovations on mobile phones are considered as incremental innovations.



Cont…Examples of Radical Innovations

• Air Products – oxygen separation technology• Analog Devices – Air Bag Accelerometer• Dupont – Biodegradable polymer, display

technology• General Electric – Digital X-ray• General Motors – Hybrid vehicle• IBM – Silicon Germanium Devices, electronic book• Nortel Networks – Internet software rental• UTC/Otis Elevator – Bi-directional elevator• Polaroid – Memory storage device• Texas Instruments – Digital light processor



Impact of Innovation Intensity on the Market

• INCREMENTAL INNOVATION– Low market uncertainty– Low technical uncertainty– Low organization uncertainty– Low resource uncertainty

• RADICAL INNOVATION– High market uncertainty– High technical uncertainty – High organization uncertainty– High resource uncertainty

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TYEntrepreneurship Dept, FBM (2009)


Basic Types of Innovation

INVENTION - Creating a totally new product, service or process. Examples: aeroplanes (Wright brothers), light bulbs (Thomas Edison), personal GPS (Peter Maire)

EXTENSION - Introducing different application or new use of existing product, service or process Examples: laptop, PDAs, walkman

DUPLICATION - Creative replication of an existing concept Examples: Franchise businesses such as Chicken Rice Shop

SYNTHESIS - Combining existing concepts or factors into a new formulation or use.Example: combining functions of a telephone, video and camera.



Important Technological Innovations

1793 – 1829

• Cotton gin

• Practical Steamboat

• Steam powered locomotive for

passengers and freight

1830-1900

• Telegraph

• Vulcanized Rubber

• Safety Elevator

• Internal Combustion Engine

• Telephone

• Phonograph

• Radio

1901-1939

• Air Conditioner

• First Flight

• Model T (Ford)

• Liquid –fueled Rockets

• FM Radio

• Jet Engine

• Xerography

• Helicopter



Cont…Important Technological Innovations

1940-1949

• Color TV

• General Purpose, Electronic, Digital

Computer

• Supersonic Flight

• Transistor

• Instant Camera

• Jet Airliner

1950-1969

• Sputnik 1 (USSR)

• NASA

• Integrated Circuit

• Operable Laser

• First Man In Space

• Telstar Satellite

• Fiber Optics

• Apollo lX

1970 ->

• Microprocessor

• Recombinant DNA

• Laser Printer

• MRI Scanner

• Space Shuttle

•Scanning Tunneling Microscope



Sources of Innovation

• Within the company or industry – Unexpected occurrence - unexpected discovery

such as penicillin– Incongruities – the gap between what is and what

should be; arise whenever a difference exists between expectations & reality.

– Process needs – require entrepreneurs to innovate and answer a particular needs such as time-saving devices

– Structural change – caused by industry and market changes due to new developments such as advances in technology.



Cont…Sources of Innovation

• Within the social environment– Demographic changes – for example

changes in population, consumer preference and geographical locations.

– Perceptual changes – perceptions can cause mood swings and major changes in ideas, for example fitness craze is resulted by perceived needs to be healthy & physically fit

– New knowledge – the basis of development of something brand new.



Linking Creativity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship

INNOVATION

INVENTION

Ability to beCREATIVE

Ability to spotOPPORTUNITIES

ENTREPRENEURIAL ENVIRONMENT

SUCCESS Source: Burns (2008)



• Creative idea flows to invention and invention flows to innovation.

• Creativity can also directly leads to innovation. • Creativity is turned into a practical reality such

as a product through innovation. • The entrepreneurial context as well as

perception of opportunity are necessary to turn it into a business reality.

• Hence, creativity must be linked to entrepreneurship in order to turn it into commercial opportunity to be exploited.

Linking Creativity & Entrepreneurship


Unit 2 (Creativity)

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