Creativity and Innovation in Design

"Being creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different"

Creativity and Innovation are two most sought after quality in the design process. However, there are a few reasonable definitions that express the spirit of design philosophy :

Imaginative ability – The ability to use the imagination to develop new and original ideas or things
People tend to confuse creativity with innovation; creativity is getting the new concept, innovation carries it towards implementation. Therefore, concept is followed by design process is innovation.

Creativity is inherently easier than innovation. Having an idea does not guarantee its real product.  What is often missing is not creativity in the idea-creating sense but innovation in terms of an action producing sense, i.e. bringing ideas to fruition.

Creativity is the driving force behind new knowledge creation and the generation of innovative outputs. Businesses that are able to effectively source and absorb knowledge and information are more likely to apply it creatively.

Being creative is thought to be much easier than the ability to actually implement ideas. Assumptions that creativity automatically leads to innovation are incorrect.
(Source: http://www.innovation-creativity.com/definition-of-creativity.html ; Nov. 23, 2012)

How Creative Idea Happens?

Past experience can function in a repetitive manner. How do we break away from the past and seeing new ways to old problems?

The subconscious mind can be a key driver towards the especial moments of creative idea.

Thinking out of the box and trying new approaches.