So what is ideation or idea generation?  Let's look at the obvious  definition from Wikipedia first:

Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation comprises all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization.  — Wikipedia

Said simply, ideation is coming up with new ideas. That's  it.

Interestingly, in the definition of Wikipedia the contributors don't limit the ideation process to finding new ideas, but also developing them and communicating them.

In this short course about ideation, we will focus our learning on the generating part of the ideation process.

Okay, so we know what ideation is, but why does it matter?