What Makes Innovation? Creativity and Value-added

Creativity and value-added are two terms you often encounter when reading about innovation. Creativity is an essential part of innovation, but it’s not the only thing, and it’s not even the most important thing. Creativity alone cannot drive innovation. The reason why this isn’t enough is that creativity by itself doesn’t create value for anyone or anything in the world. That is why value-added is also an essential element of successful innovation processes.

What is Creativity?

Creativity is the ability to make something new out of existing things.?

It is the act of combining and recombining existing elements in a new and valuable way. It is the process of having new ideas and reimagining the world. Put simply, creativity is the process of finding new and exciting ways to use things. Creativity happens when people or organisations use their imaginations to create new things and develop new ideas. Creativity brings fresh ideas and forms of expression into the world. It’s about making something out of nothing. Creative ideas are often creative because they are new. And the process of creativity usually involves taking many different things and combining them in new ways to make something unique.

What is Value-added?

Value-added is about taking something that already exists, adding value to it, and creating something new. Value-added is making something better or more useful by adding new elements. It’s about looking at something that already exists, figuring out what’s missing, and adding that missing piece to the equation. It’s the process of finding a gap in the market and filling it. A value-added product is better than what you started with. For example, a car manufacturer adds value when it takes the raw materials needed to make a car (iron, rubber, plastic, etc.) and makes a car out of it. Thus, value-added is also sometimes called value-added services.

Why Creativity Is Not Enough

We have established that creativity is a necessary part of the innovation process. However, on its own, creativity does not produce or create value. It is valuable only when it is combined with another element: value-added. Value-added is about more than just adding weight; it is about creatively adding value. The value-added part of the equation happens when the new idea (creativity) is linked with real-world value drivers that can make the vision a reality. For example, the basic idea behind Uber was pretty creative. However, that creativity was not enough to make it successful. It took a lot of creativity to create an on-demand taxi service, but even more, value-added to make it a reality.

The Importance of Value-added to Innovation

Innovation is about finding new ways to do things, combining elements in new ways, and reimagining the world. To do that, you need creativity. You also need to add value to the things you use to make the new things you want to make. Innovation is not the same as invention. The invention is about coming up with new ideas. In other words, it is about finding new and creative ways of doing things. To make an invention work in the real world, you also need to add value to that invention. In other words, you need to earn that valuable invention by linking it with real-world value drivers.

3 Steps to Leverage Creativity While Adding Value

If you want to be successful, you have to get the right balance between creativity and value-added. You need both of them to work together to drive innovation. Here’s how to get the right balance between creativity and value-added.?

- Understand your value proposition - The first step towards combining creativity with your value proposition is to have a good understanding of what your value proposition is. Your value proposition is the promise you make to your customers and why they should buy from you. You must understand your value proposition because it will help you figure out what to do and where to add value.?

- Identify your customers’ pain points - The next step towards combining creativity with your value proposition is identifying your customers’ pain points. A pain point is something that makes your customers’ lives difficult. It is the part of their lives that they find frustrating and annoying. - Put yourself in your customers’ shoes?

- The third and perhaps most crucial element of combining creativity with your value proposition is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. You have to think about what your customers want and what they need.?

Summary

Innovation is about finding new ways to do things, combining elements in new ways, and reimagining the world. To do that, you need creativity, and you also need to add value to the things you use to make the new things you want to make. Innovation is not the same as invention. The invention is about coming up with new ideas. In other words, it is about finding new and creative ways of doing things. To make an invention work in the real world, you also need to add value to that invention. And come up with creative ways to do so.