Creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy, and I actually think people understand that creativity is important - they just don't understand what it is.
Creativity is the greatest gift of human intelligence.
Innovation is applied creativity. By definition, innovation is always about introducing something new, or improved, or both and it is usually assumed to be a positive thing.
Creativity, as I see it, is the process of putting your imagination to work. It's been defined rather simply as applied imagination. That's not a bad way to think about it.
