In a world where ideas drive economies, it is no wonder that innovation and entrepreneurship are often seen as inseparable bedfellows.

It’s been interesting reading some of the reactions by business bloggers to General Motors’ first experiment with podcasting last week.

Google’s beta release of their desktop search tool was their shot across the bow of the USS Microsoft Search. Following hard of the heels of promising technology releases from Blinkx and Copernic, Google is staking their claim to the desktop search space. And Microsoft seems to have been caught flat footed, as they continue to push back the deadline for the release of Longhorn, which will integrate desktop search with the operating system. Many seem to think a search related announcement out of Redmond is imminent.

More than 70 professionals from private and public organizations, academia and capital markets will gather today in Boston for a first-ever forum focused on the state of corporate venturing — an investment area emerging as a key component of innovation.

Several top search engines, including Google and Yahoo, are competing to make personalized search a reality. How long will it be before search engines are able to “understand” – and, more importantly, how will personalized search affect your business?

Ideation is the complete process – decide where ideas are needed, generate ideas, evaluate ideas, plan and carry out next steps. This is much more powerful and practical than traditional brainstorming – where anything goes and very often nothing happens as a result.

For years, the search engines have continued to introduce new factors into their algorithms to make their search results more relevant and to keep savvy search engine marketers from “cracking the system.”

No matter what you’re selling, when it comes to increasing your customer base, creativity is the key to grabbing a prospect’s attention. But unfortunately, creativity isn’t a switch that you can flip on when needed. How can you foster a more creative outlook in your daily life? Try these three easy ways to get started: