Defining Creativity

What exactly is creativity? Is it being able to take something from nothing and making it somehow valuable or useful? Maybe it is the measure of putting your imagination into reality? 
Duffy (2006) defines creativity as "Connecting the previously unconnected in ways that are new and meaningful to the individual concerned". Bernadette Duffy is attempting to explain that creativity is inventiveness, and its worth is determined by its usefulness to the recipient, whether in masses or individual.  Another way of defining creativity comes from one of Robert E. Frankens' books named 'Human Motivation' (1982) where it reads "Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others." suggesting that creativity has a wide range of uses from problem solving, such as Einstein's theory of the connection between mass and energy, or communicating with others such as the invention of the telephone, it could be said that through this interpretation, if we did not have creativity we would not know or have anything. 

In a current society where innovation and new things are valuable, how do we ensure the continuation of creating useful things? One thing is for certain, we will never live in a perfect world where there aren't many problems, and it is likely that we will always need brilliant minds to keep creating solutions to problems from the core of their own minds.
It is then important that we invest in where creativity begins and develop any potential from the beginning.

A child's natural state is to be curious and imaginative, as they begin to get older from birth they develop an ability to be playful and imaginative, they begin to creative shapes from dough, role play with friends or even create a new game entirely. It is these sort of abilities that should be nurtured in order to create inquisitive minds such as the likes of Isaac Newton, who questioned the world around them from something simple as an apple falling from a tree, and spontaneously creating the concept of gravity. 

It is then easy to suggest that the ability to create something profoundly new from imagination should be nurtured in any way possible, a way of being creative is to also build from an existing idea or concept, Albert Einstein once said "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources", Einstein is simply implying that for one to be creative, they are to have no trace back to their source, meaning that if the idea came from an existing idea, they have used in a completely different way and creating something new from that. 
It is also important that we look at the importance and relevance of creativity in the 21st century, over the next few posts I'm going to be looking at this, including various aspects of the inquiring mind such as the 'Leonardo effect', various perspectives on creativity, and how it is neglected as well as nurtured.