Creativity and innovation: Skills for the 21st century

Abstract

Creativity and innovation have been highlighted as essential skills for the 21st century, especially if we consider that both skills can promote human potential by eliciting positive aspects of the individual. These skills have been valued in different contexts. The purpose of this text is to discuss the notions of creativity and innovation as independent constructs and to discuss the relationships between these concepts according to the scientifi c literature. Three different propositions will be presented, namely, treating these constructs as synonyms, as distinct from each other or as complimentary.