Creating Innovation: How the right environment can increase an organization's productivity, creativity, and innovation

Abstract

Is creating creativity possible? Ideation is one of the biggest buzzwords in the corporate universe today, sparking a shift to manipulating whatever may maximize innovation. The relationship between creativity and innovation is described in the input - output model posited by Amabile along with her theoretical creative computational: given a certain creative input, innovation is mediated only by various environmental factors. In other words, the innovative output of an organization is almost entirely dependent on its environment. This deduction provides the theoretical backbone of modern innovation research. This paper synthesizes the current research on creativity and innovation and presents possible ways to increase innovation in a business through a thorough grappling of what, exactly, in the physical environment influences individuals. An explanation of the concluding breakdown of the environment and its influences are the focus on the paper. In order to explore the dynamics between physical space and creativity, I took two different approaches, one academic and one corporate: reading literature from various fields and interviewing experts in design as well as individuals in corporations. The combination of these methods would allow me to best address the gap between what academics have discovered and what corporations actually utilize. In this way, a more practical and comprehensive theory can be developed and utilized.