Creativity is possible at all levels from the kitchen chemistry lab to the killer app corporate development project or to the multinational research initiative. Whatever the era or product, the successful project or company starts with a creative visionary. Somebody who is persistent and has a multifaceted mind. Steve Jobs for instance.

 Traits that all great inventors have in common that will be valuable to anyone interested in creating new designs and products are: 

> Unleash your curiosity, quest for knowledge and propensity for noticing things. No lesser minds than Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein were noted for being passionately curious, using their imagination as their prime lens to see ahead and their creativity to solve problems. Einstein wrote: "The important thing is not to stop questioning." You should also notice things, however unrelated to your quest they may seem. When Will Carrier noticed the apparently odd behavior of water droplets in fog, he had stumbled into the basics of the novel technology of the Carrier Corporation, world leader in air conditioning.

 > Project your mind into imagination space, focusing on all the interrelated aspects of what you are creating or inventing. To create your Eureka Moment, you must forcefully move your mind beyond existing thinking about the subject. You must move out of your conscious world and focus your mind in a new place occupied only by the new creation. This is your glorious imagination space. Some people, very few, keep this imaginative ability through adulthood. Their imaginings lead to inventions, art, designs and explorations of many frontiers never seen before. To start, try to be a child with the almost naive capability of unfettered imagination. Emotion is part of this creative formula, and that has not been replaced in any advanced computer.

> Bring in experts and specialists whenever and wherever appropriate. A common mistake is to be overly protective about your novel idea. At the earliest possible time you should have your design or composition reviewed by an associate, faculty member, consultant or other trustworthy knowledgeable adviser. Usually you do not have to disclose important details to protect from copying, and very often a reviewer can give you surprisingly good guidance on design or composition improvement.

 > Focus on the practical, useful, needed and beautiful. Very often inventions and other creations start out answering to a major need or a broad interest. Then the project morphs into a personal passion with little or no market value. Whether you're a garage tinkerer or a Thomas Edison, ultimately your commercial success depends on developing something which economically fills a real need and which looks attractive to potential buyers. As you develop prototypes, theories or compositions, show them to people in the market for overall attractiveness feedback.

 > Be persistent. Don't give up. In one famous incident, an associate found Thomas Edison at his lab 

             Steve Jobs              

bench surrounded by a sea of experimental storage battery test cells. 9,000 experiments had been carried out with no promising developments. His associate offered condolence: "Isn't it a shame that with the tremendous amount of work you have done, you haven't been able to get any results?" Edison replied, "Why, man, I've gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work!" For a major invention like the light bulb, this is what's involved. Even minor inventions seem to take more time than imagined to get to the production prototype stage.

This site will expand on the above ideas and much more.

Examples of Inventing is a slide show illustrating creativity and invention.

Recommended Internet are links to other websites that relate to creativity and invention.

References is a library of papers relating to imagination, creativity and invention.

MY BOOKS 

MegaMinds develops a comprehensive theory of how people do genius level thinking and how this can be augmented by the new Web-based search and invent services. Larry Kilham reviews the major creative epochs and thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Edison and Einstein and then moves on to the latest in computer-aided thinking. He reviews artificial intelligence and highlights its limitations and then goes on to explore the possibilities with Google and other massive Web-based connected, collectivized intelligence. Larry is an electronics engineer from a family of artists and inventors, and this gives him a special insight about creativity and invention.

Nobody’s mind is a mind by itself. We are now in the era of MegaMinds which are individual minds networked together. They can be more powerful and more creative than any lone genius or any supercomputer. This is a brain-computer partnership whose elements will be explained so that all readers can benefit. This book will describe what is needed to effect the brain-computer partnership, what kinds of breakthroughs we can expect, and what we must do to make them happen. Inventing with Google is described in six steps.

Using the latest research in cognitive and computer sciences, MegaMinds explains in engaging terms  that huge data bases in engineering, science and other areas require analytical methods and research approaches unknown even several decades ago. We are suddenly in the era of Big Data, and clouds of thousands of computers working together look for models and solutions. Artificial intelligence and other new computer approaches are examined for the real contributions they can make and where their benefits are

·        Reinventing the wheel

·        Chemical process instrumentation

·        Automatic design of electronic circuits

·        Aircraft design

·        Drug research and development

·        Climate research

Larry Kilham combines historical research, current laboratory studies using such modern techniques as fMRI, and his own experience as an inventor with several successful patents in complex technical areas. He offers suggestions along the way for everyone from emerging inventors and technical problem solvers to research teams seeking to utilize the best in cognitive science and computer technology.

Apple's book store as "Megaminds"

and Barnes & Noble Nook.

This timeless book takes the reader through the essential steps of forming a successful technically-based company. Included are such topics as forming a vision,  creating a product, formulating a business plan, the basics of marketing, finance, production, patents and all the various elements, formal and informal, that pull the whole process together. All major points are illustrated by examples drawn primarily from family companies based on inventions. The story-telling style captures the attention of beginners as well as seasoned entrepreneurs. The book is very meaty and avoids the mantras, over-simplification and feel-good approaches of many "How to" business books.

Available as paperback or Kindle ebook from Amazon.he reader through the essential steps of forming a successful technically-based company. Included are such topics as forming a vision,  creating a pct, formulating a business plan, the basics of marketing, finance, production, patents and all the various elements, formal and informal, that pull the whole process together. All major points are illustrated by examples drawn primarily from family companies based on inventions. The story-telling style captures the attention of beginners as well as seasoned entrepreneurs. The book is very meaty and avoids the mantras, over-simplification and feel-good approaches of many "How to" business books.

Available as paper

(c) Lawrence B. Kilham 2010, 2011, 2012

All rights reserved