Well if you're reducing formulas for creativity down to stuff like mind maps, then of course you're scornful. These are pretty well known and accepted solutions to creativity. Almost certainly very far from the optimal one (if that exists), but still:
1. Crowdsourcing, especially incentivised via capitalism.
2. Drugs.
3. Education. Yes, this can also stifle creativity, hence why we don't want everyone learning the same curriculum. But there is no surer way to stop creativity than to allow redundant knowledge to develop twice (which is not to say that we shouldn't do this as part of education, just with direction).
4. Motivation, desperation, i.e. lack of comfort/pain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs#Beginning_...
5. Randomly/"brute force" derived novel solutions are undeniably novel (http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/04/computer-derives-nat...)
6. Logic is pretty damn good for solving problems.
So, no, there's no general algorithm to produce 'creative' thoughts, much less against a given solution, but we have learned an immense amount in the past 10k years on how to actively stimulate creativity. Just because many creative ideas were not encountered methodically means nothing but that creativity is not restricted to intent, and the fact that some ideas that we are actively pursuing that will require creative thought (by definition) can't be obviously solved just means we haven't done so yet, not that we cannot methodically find the solution.
Going even further, I think the rate at which humans create is far more proof that there exists some general algorithm for creativity than for its non-existence; in fact, the only proof I'm aware of that attempts to do so is the incompleteness theorems/the halting problem proof. And even those put no bounds on how much knowledge is off limits to us, assuming that we are deterministic and thus bound by those proofs. The human race has more issues with the deluge of research outpacing our ability to comprehend it—perhaps we should work more on understanding existing knowledge rather than creating new knowledge.