Feb152019

Idea Creation

Posted by Admin  |  Filed under ENTREPRENEURSHIPComments (6)

THE SCIENCE OF IDEA CREATION

The world is full of products of great ideas;from airplane, text message, internet, skyscrapers, suspension bridge, etc. Idea creation exposes man’s mind as a mine full of riches. These riches unfortunately are insufficiently tapped. I would discuss more of this in my subsequent write-up.

Idea creation has over the years been thought to be an art. Perhaps so. Its conception or creation prima facie appears a work of art. Idea creationis a work of imagination; the power to search inwards for a solution and bring same outward for refinement and implementation. Idea creation is also the imaginative ability to search beyond the physical and the ordinary for something beautiful and extraordinary. Although idea creationis a task which product is not necessarily novel but has to be unique enough to be distinguished from existing product.

I would, however, like to look at an idea creation as a science. I have had to argue this oftentimes with some of my colleagues in innovation industry. Do not get me wrong. Idea creation may both be science and art. But is more of a science. I would explain. Science is a systematic venture. It is mental or intellectual engagement and enterprise by humans to discover information through observation and experiment. So is idea creation. Man engages his intellectual capacity in a systematic study of a problem or an object in order to find relevant information or solution. He often arrives at this through his observation or experiment.

Observation denotes giving time to underscore the problem at hand. To come out with a solution, you have to first understand what the problem is. You have to also pay close attention to people’s reaction to the problem. Sometimes you will have to listen to them; interview them and seek their sincere and objective opinions. Whatever you are able to gather from your observation largely serves as an ingredient to idea creation.

To be a good idea creator, understanding of the basic scientific method are germane. It is what makes the idea realistic and implementable. More often than not we think of an idea creation as a spiritual affair that comes inform of a hunch or a flash or a chain of thought and we get so emotional about it. No!An idea creation is deliberate. It is a mental exercise. An experiment ought to be performed to test the potency, efficacy and implementability of the idea.  Failures of good corporations or businesses or any project at all is not a result of lack of idea creation. It is rather the weakness of the idea; it is either lacking in efficacy, is obsolete or common, costly or complicated.

The laboratory of an idea creator is the people or organisation for which the idea is meant for. However, it is wise to conduct such test somewhere, to start small or if you can assemble volunteers or have a model organisation. This is to prevent colossal damage in case the experiment fails. Scientists use specimen or sample.

An idea creation is a science. An idea creator is an engineer. We can look at it this way: an architect designs a house on his computer or paper. An engineer is required to bring the design to live. An idea creator that is only artistic can only be a draughtsman and when he is scientific, he becomes an architect cum engineer. The two are inseparably important. In other words, anybody can create an idea but not everybody can see the idea from conception to implementation with all the details accurately mapped out and calculated.

In conclusion, just like natural sciences, I do not doubt that there are people that are idea creation geniuses. The ingenuity of an idea creator lies however not in the out-of-the-world appearance, but its ability to be implementable, comprehensible, and to solve an immediate and urgent or a future problem, to make a difference in the lives of people or organisation, and/or to achieve a set target.