TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP

(ENT600)

UNIT 2:
CREATIVITY, INNOVATION AND
TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 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) ENT600/UNIT 2 : CREATIVITY

 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 improved efficiency or
effectiveness of a system

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

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

 Creative ideas often arise when creative people observe
established solutions, practices, or products and think of
something new or different.
Examples ► Creating the “NEW”
• Knowledge
• Products
• Processes
• Services
• Markets
• Business models
• Raw materials

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

 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.

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

 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

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

 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.

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

 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.

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

 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.

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

 THREE COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY
Creativity has three basic components:

• Knowledge

• Motivation

• Creative thinking skills

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

 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

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

 Three Components of Creativity:
Creative Thinking Skills
Creative 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

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

 Three Components of Creativity:
Motivation
Motivation is in two forms:
▪ Extrinsic motivation
o Comes from outside a person, whether
the motivation is a ‘carrot’ or a ‘stick’

▪ Intrinsic motivation
o A person’s internal desire to do
something. Satisfaction is derived from
overcoming the challenge.

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

 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.

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

 Phases of the Creative Process
▪ 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.

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

 Phases of the Creative Process
▪ 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.

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

 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.

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

 • SearchingBlocks
for the only ‘one’ right answer
to Creativity
• 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”

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

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

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

 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.

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

 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
play/make-believe
and norms
• Need to be nurtured for
• Can be rapidly implemented long periods
• Immediate gains • Worse initial performance,
• Develop customer loyalty potential big gains
• Create new markets

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

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.

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

 • AirEXAMPLES
Products – oxygen separation technology
OF RADICAL INNOVATIONS
• 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
Entrepreneurship Dept, FBM (2009) ENT600/UNIT 2 : CREATIVITY
 Impact of Innovation
Intensity on the Market
• INCREMENTAL INNOVATION
• Low market uncertainty
LOW
• Low technical uncertainty
• Low organization uncertainty
• Low resource uncertainty

UNCERTAINTY
• RADICAL INNOVATION
• High market uncertainty
• High technical uncertainty
• High organization uncertainty
• High resource uncertainty
HIGH

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

 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.

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

 Important Technological Innovations
1901-1939
1793 – 1829 1830-1900
• Air Conditioner
• Cotton gin • Telegraph
• First Flight
• Practical • Vulcanized Rubber
Steamboat
• Model T (Ford)
• Safety Elevator
• Steam powered
• Liquid –fueled
locomotive for • Internal Combustion
Rockets
passengers and Engine
freight
• FM Radio
• Telephone
• Jet Engine
• Phonograph
• Xerography
• Radio
• Helicopter

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

 Important Technological Innovations
1940-1949 1950-1969 1970 ->

• Color TV • Sputnik 1 (USSR) • Microprocessor

• General • NASA • Recombinant

Purpose, DNA
Electronic, • Integrated Circuit
Digital Computer • Laser Printer
• Operable Laser
• Supersonic • MRI Scanner
Flight • First Man In Space
• Space Shuttle
• Transistor • Telstar Satellite
• Scanning
• Instant Camera • Fiber Optics Tunneling
Microscope
• Jet Airliner • Apollo lX

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

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

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

 Linking Creativity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship

ENTREPRENEURIAL ENVIRONMENT

INVENTION

Ability to be Ability to spot

CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

INNOVATION

SUCCESS Source: Burns (2008)

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

 •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.

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

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