Ideation is the creative

Creativity

Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...

 process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea

Idea

In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images...

 is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation is all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation

Innovation

Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...

, to development, to actualization. As such, it is an essential part of the design process, both in education and practice.

Methods of innovation

Methods of innovation include:

• Problem solution This is the most simple method of progress, where someone has found a problem and as a result, solves it.

• Evolutionary idea Evolutionary ideas derive from somewhere else, taking something that already exists and improving on it.

• Symbiotic idea A symbiotic method of idea creation is when multiple ideas are combined, using different elements of each to make a whole.

• Revolutionary idea A revolutionary idea breaks away from traditional thought and creates a brand new perspective. For example, Marxism
  Marxism
  Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
  
   (an evolutionary form of Hegelianism), or the writings of Copernicus (a development of classical Greek thought).

• Serendipitous discovery Serendipitous solutions are ideas which have been coincidentally developed without the intention of the inventor. For example, the discovery of penicillin
  Penicillin
  Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
  
  .

• Targeted innovation Creating a targeted innovation deals with a direct path of discovery. This is often accompanied by intensive research in order to have a distinct and almost expected resolution. For example, linear programming
  Linear programming
  Linear programming is a mathematical method for determining a way to achieve the best outcome in a given mathematical model for some list of requirements represented as linear relationships...
  
  .

• Artistic innovation Artistic innovation disregards the necessity for practicality and holds no constraints. This is the purest form of invention.

• Philosophical idea The philosophical idea lives in the mind of the creator and can never be proven. This type of idea however can still have vast residual effects. For example, the idea of eternal recurrence.

• Computer-assisted discovery This uses a computer in order to widen possibilities of research and numeric possibilities.

See also

• Brainstorming
  Brainstorming
  Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...
  
  
  • Brainstorming software
    Brainstorming software
    Brainstorming software is computer software that is used for the development of creative ideas — brainstorming. Some formats or structures for this include flow charts, idea maps, word association and generative idea creation programs. Ideation is often associated with brainstorming software...
    
    
• Creativity
  Creativity
  Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
  
  
  • Creativity techniques
    Creativity techniques
    Creativity techniques are methods that encourage creative actions, whether in the arts or sciences. They focus on a variety of aspects of creativity, including techniques for idea generation and divergent thinking, methods of re-framing problems, changes in the affective environment and so on. They...
    
    
• Enterprise 2.0
  Enterprise social software
  Enterprise social software , comprises social software as used in "enterprise" contexts. It includes social and networked modifications to corporate intranets and other classic software platforms used by large companies to organize their communication...
  
  
• Decision tree
  Decision tree
  A decision tree is a decision support tool that uses a tree-like graph or model of decisions and their possible consequences, including chance event outcomes, resource costs, and utility. It is one way to display an algorithm. Decision trees are commonly used in operations research, specifically...
  
  
• Ideas bank
  Ideas bank
  An ideas bank is a website where people post, exchange, discuss, and polish new ideas. Some ideas banks are used for the purpose of developing new inventions or technologies. Many corporations have installed internal ideas banks to gather the input from their employees and improve their ideation...