An individual acting alone to solve a problem can be creative, while innovation is the process of adding value by applying a new idea or method to something that is already established. For example, Henry Ford did not contribute the creative energy to invent an automobile.
Rather, Ford’s innovation was the idea to combine the 100-year-old technology for the automobile with the meat packing industry’s assembly line process, resulting in a means to mass produce cars. On the same note, Apple did not invent the MP3 player with the introduction of the iPod.