Research context

1. What is creativity?

Creativity is a process made up of two parts; ideation and innovation. Ideation is defined "as the power of the mind for forming ideas or images; the exercise of such power."¹ Ideation drives innovation. Innovation is "fresh thinking that creates value."² Innovation happens at the intersection of cultures, when thinking frameworks [ideas] collide³. For example, the discovery of DNA was made when Crick and Watson's theoretical ideas came together with Franklin's imagery, in a chance encounter through a mutual friend⁴. Cultures are the dissemination of creativity⁵. The Arts, Business and Media⁶ are examples of cultures. Cultures are made up of sectors⁷. The boundaries of which are converging⁸. Creativity is the whole process; bringing together and rearranging ideas to make innovations, and applying them to a new context, through cultures⁹.

2. The 'creative industries' (or not?)

The 'creative industries' are defined by the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS, 1998) as being, "based upon activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and as having the potential for wealth creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property."¹⁰

My definition is that the 'creative industries' are a sector of Media Culture¹¹ that deals in the public announcement of persuasive messages and related content creation. These messages are often intangible and can not be valued on economic terms. Value is defined by consumer experience and/or response. They can be divided into 'creator companies'- which originate content- and content 'distributors'- which connect the content and message to the target consumer. The 'creator companies' are more consistently innovative than content 'distributors'.¹²

In current creative practice, innovative activities remain hidden because they are intrinsic to a company's unique selling point. They are only made real when embedded in tangible products or services and protected by intellectual property. This is a system of 'controlled creativity'¹³ and herein lies their problem. How does restricting the process of creativity to a select group of individuals within the same context [thinking framework] improve the capacity of of the individual to be 'creative'?

'Creative industries' is a misleading name. There is creativity in everything we do- creative accounting is not defined as a creative industry- creativity is not always defined as such- it just happens. There is an element of performance in everything. This means the implications of this study are wider than just 'creative' companies. Would a better definition be: creativity is the mobilisation different professionals around a common project to achieve a defined outcome.  

3. 'Everywhere Ideas'

The "closed pipeline approach"¹⁴ to creativity will be rendered redundant in the new information infrastructure. Discussion of 'Cloud Computing' trend as driver of change.

Ideas are around us wherever we go, they do not have to take a material form to be understood. Ideas can be invisible but they are always there, embedded in an object. Like a seemingly endless stream, which passes through us. Prediction that ideation will become a fashion. In open culture, the ideas that fuel innovation will not come from the creative few. They will come from a myriad of sources; "borrowing ingredients and blending them together in different ways."¹⁵ Increasing our creative capacity as a whole. Discussion of Unknown business model.

This change is happening now¹⁶.The 'creative industries' are being, opened up and reversed by "always on, converged and networked technology¹⁷. The result is the rise of a 'creative class'¹⁸. Unlike their predecessors, these consumers [the creative class] no longer worry about accessing and integrating with systems and hierarchies already in place, they create their own participatory economy¹⁹. This is creativity without control.

The problem is that ideas are worthless unless backed by actions. Generating ideas doesn't result in change. Every idea needs a detailed action plan for execution. Ideas and consequent innovations are not good enough on their own to be successful. They need 'action agents' to translate them; "innovation intermediaries"²⁰. This is a gap in our knowledge that needs to be addressed.

4. Manchester

Whilst some companies are leaders in organisational innovation (examples). Others will need to make huge ideological changes if they wish to maintain their competitive advantage. Companies are risk adverse by nature and can find it difficult to embrace uncertainty. REF current economic outlook- consolidate/ change- diversify. Companies locked in to existing business models because of the economics of content creation. They know that a new model is emerging but don't know how to adapt. Therefore, they will need to look for outside expertise, of which there is currently very little. My research will provide conceptual models built upon evidence which should fill this gap in knowledge, enabling competition.