Unit 2 ENT600 Creativity

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(ENT600)
UNIT 2:
CREATIVITY, INNOVATION
AND
TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ENT600/UNIT 2: CREATIVITY 1
Entrepreneurship Dept, FBM
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
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 the imagination to develop

new ideas, new things or new solutions. These
generation of ideas should lead to improvement in
the efficiency or effectiveness of a system.
(Adapted from Fredrick et al., 2006 and Dorf and Byers, 2005)
Creative ideas often arise when creative people
observe established solutions, practices, or
products and think of something new or different.
Examples ►Creating the “NEW”

o Knowledge
o Products
o Processes
o Services
o Markets
o Business models
o Raw materials
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
Six Resources of
Creative Team/Enterprise (cont.)
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.
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.
Three Components of Creativity
Creativity has three basic components:
 Knowledge
 Motivation
 Creative thinking skills
Three Components of Creativity:
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
ENT600/UNIT 2: CREATIVITY 11 Entrepreneurship Dept, FBM

Creative Thinking Skills
Creative thinking skill 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
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 require 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.
 Phase 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 come
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 fantasize about the project and
always keep a notebook to record emergence of ideas at
odd hours.
 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.
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 Radical Innovation
• Steady improvements • Fundamental rethink

• Based on sustaining • Based on disruptive
technologies technologies
• Obedience to cultural routines • Experimentation and
and norms play/make-believe
• Can be rapidly implemented • Need to be nurtured for long
periods
• Immediate gains
• Worse initial performance,
• Develop customer loyalty 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.
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
 Low market uncertainty
 Low technical uncertainty
 Low organization uncertainty
UNCERTAINTY
 Low resource uncertainty
 RADICAL INNOVATION
 High market uncertainty
 High technical uncertainty
 High organization uncertainty
 High resource uncertainty
HIGH
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,
ENT600/UNIT 2: CREATIVITY
video
26
and camera.
Important Technological Innovations
1793 – 1829 1830-1900 1901-1939
•Cotton gin •Telegraph •Air Conditioner
•Practical •Vulcanized Rubber •First Flight

Steamboat
•Safety Elevator •Model T (Ford)
•Steam powered
locomotive for •Internal •Liquid –fueled
passengers and Combustion Engine Rockets
freight
•Telephone •FM Radio
•Phonograph •Jet Engine
•Radio •Xerography
•Helicopter
Important Technological Innovations
1940-1949 1950-1969 1970 ->
•Color TV •Sputnik 1 (USSR) •Microprocessor
•General Purpose, •NASA •Recombinant DNA

Electronic, Digital
Computer •Integrated Circuit •Laser Printer
•Supersonic Flight •Operable Laser •MRI Scanner
•Transistor •First Man In Space •Space Shuttle
•Instant Camera •Telstar Satellite •Scanning Tunneling

Microscope
•Jet Airliner •Fiber Optics
•Apollo lX
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 – devices require entrepreneurs to
innovate and answer a particular need such as time-
saving
 Structural change – caused by industry and market
changes due to new developments such as advances in
technology.
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 resulted by perceived needs to be healthy &
physically fit
 New knowledge – the basis of development of something

brand new.
Linking Creativity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
ENTREPRENEURIAL ENVIRONMENT
INVENTION
Ability to be Ability to spot

CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES
INNOVATION
SUCCESS Source: Burns (2008)

Linking Creativity & Entrepreneurship
 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.

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TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 Discovery of opportunity at the right time and

 Technopreneurs need to be creative in

 It is the ability to use the imagination to develop

Examples ►Creating the “NEW”

 Technology entrepreneurship is at its best when

 Hence, creativity should be encouraged among

1. Knowledge in the required domain and fields i.e.

2. Intellectual abilities to recognize connections,

3. Inventive thinking about the problem in novel

4. Motivation towards action

5. Opportunity-oriented personality and openness to

6. Contextual understanding that supports creativity and

 PROBLEM REVERSAL – look at the opposite of

 FORCED ANALOGY - gain new insights by

 ATTRIBUTE LISTING - break down the “thing”

 BRAINSTORMING - generating ideas based on

 LATERAL THINKING - exploring multiple

 Creative thinking skills

 Knowledge refers to a confident understanding of a

 Knowledge is gained by an individual through study

ENT600/UNIT 2: CREATIVITY 11 Entrepreneurship Dept, FBM

Creative thinking skill is the use of creative intelligence to

Four styles of creative intelligence:

 Phase 1: Background or Knowledge

 Phase 4: Evaluation and Implementation

 Searching for the only ‘one’ right answer

 “That doesn’t sound too practical”

• Innovation is the ability to apply creative solutions to

• Entrepreneurs innovate by converting opportunities

 Creativity is thinking new things while innovation

Incremental Innovation Radical Innovation

• Steady improvements • Fundamental rethink

 Mobile phone was regarded as a radical innovation

 As technology progresses, several features are

 These innovations on mobile phones are

 Air Products – oxygen separation technology

 EXTENSION - Introducing different application or new use

 DUPLICATION - Creative replication of an existing concept

 SYNTHESIS - Combining existing concepts or factors into a

1793 – 1829 1830-1900 1901-1939

•Cotton gin •Telegraph •Air Conditioner

•Practical •Vulcanized Rubber •First Flight

•Phonograph •Jet Engine

1940-1949 1950-1969 1970 ->

•Color TV •Sputnik 1 (USSR) •Microprocessor

•General Purpose, •NASA •Recombinant DNA

•Supersonic Flight •Operable Laser •MRI Scanner

•Transistor •First Man In Space •Space Shuttle

•Instant Camera •Telstar Satellite •Scanning Tunneling

 Perceptual changes – perceptions can cause mood

 New knowledge – the basis of development of something

Ability to be Ability to spot

SUCCESS Source: Burns (2008)

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