Reflecting On Past Innovations

James Todhunter

Everything is new at one time or another.  Of course, nothing stays that way.  I am reminded of this everyday.  However, it is easy to forget the innovations of the past as progress continues at its every quickening pace … Read More

Convergence and Divergence

Michael S. Slocum

Ideating takes place in cycles. Cycles of convergence and divergence that is repeated through the definition and resolution phases of problem solving. The process is also iterative. This means that the cycles continue indefinitely as a solution to … Read More

Trick or Treat

Cass PursellHalloween is a good day to remind us of the choices we’re faced with in the context of our innovation conversations. I don’t know if the “trick or treat” paradigm was invented by Halloween, but it was certainly popularized … Read More

Report from the 2nd IberoAmerican Technological Innovation Congress

Ellen Domb

Tuesday was the opening day of the Congress, in Monterrey Mexico, at the conference center of the University Autonoma de Nueva Leon. Amazing view of the city! More than 40 people participated in the tutorial sessions, with the distance … Read More

Coping with Process Variation

Cass PursellI have talked before about Little’s Law and its role in improving the speed of the innovation process (“One critical issue that must be better understood is the cause of long innovation lead times,” from my post on August … Read More

Bend it Like Nestle

Lynda Curtin

 What are other companies doing to be more innovative? I am often asked this question. To find out, I attended a recent event which hosted two speakers – Rich Vincent (CLO) and Ivars Ozolins (Executive Development) from Nestle U.S.A. to … Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management Conference

Praveen Gupta

DePaul University’s Center for Creativity and Innovation held its first annual conference on October 26, 2007. The conference had Matthew Wise, CEO of Q Interactive, Tom Stat, Associate Partner at IDEO, and many other speakers on topics ranging from … Read More

Chicago Innovation Award

Praveen Gupta

Chicago is celebrating its first Innovation Week by holding variety of innovation activies. I had the opportunity to attend Chicago Innovation Award (CIA) celebrations. The Award was created six years ago by Dan Miller, Business Editor of Chicago Sun Times, and Tom Kuczmarski … Read More

Limitation Stimulates Creativity

Ellen Domb

My colleague Akhilesh Gulati recently ran this essay on the use of limitations to stimulate innovation in the Radical Thinking column of his newsletter www.pivotmc.com which I recommend to our readers.   I have seen this limitation effect many times, … Read More

Leadership for Innovation

Praveen Gupta

Everyone is talking about innovation in the corporate world. Books, conferences, courses, and presentations abound. Corporate executives are surveyed, and results publicized. Corporations are becoming more innovative just by availability of more information, and networked environment in the flat … Read More

Time To Fish Or Cut Bait

James Todhunter

Well, it’s official.  Yesterday, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first baby-boomer, filed for Social Security benefits.  She becomes the first of as many as 80 million individuals who will qualify for benefits in the coming years.

This should be a major … Read More

Dean Kamen’s New Arm

Ellen Domb

TRIZ Journal and Real Innovation Commentators talk a lot about the methods of innovation, but we don’t talk very often about the sense of mission and commitment that are frequently needed to keep an idea alive while all those … Read More

Non-linear Problem Solving

Michael S. Slocum

We are accustomed to solving problems using a linear two-step process. This process is as simple as problem Â» solution. Our psychological bias is the foundation for our ability to solve problems using this simple process. We have an … Read More

Success through Innovation Conference – Part II

Praveen Gupta

Success Through Innovation: “Profitability and Competitivenessin the European and World Markets” – The EIPC Management Council Meeting

Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct. 10, 2007 (www.eipc.org, www.ipc.org)

After lunch, Konrad Wundt, General Manager of Multiple International Europa talked about the European … Read More

Success Through Innovation Conference – Part I

Praveen Gupta

Success through Innovation: “Profitability and Competitivenessin the European and World Markets” – The EIPC Management Council Meeting

Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct. 10, 2007 (www.eipc.org and www.ipc.org)

Electronics industry has been the driver for dramatic progress for over last twenty … Read More

Scheduled Innovation

Praveen Gupta

In a recent discussion at an innovation conference, someone made a point that scheduled innovation is a contradiction. Innovation is considered to be unpredictable due to uncertain amount of time involved, or the product development cycle.

We have … Read More

Call for Papers – TRIZCON 2008

Katie Barry

The Altshuller Institute for TRIZ Studies has announced a call for papers for the 10th anniversary of TRIZCON, its annual conference on the topic of TRIZ (The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving). The theme is TRIZ – Your Inspiration … Read More

The International Space Station Meets TRIZ

Michael S. Slocum

The International Space Station is a massive undertaking coordinated by five national agencies (US, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada) with participation from about a dozen other countries. In all, hundreds of companies and 100,000 people have been responsible … Read More

I’m Not Saying Executives Can Be Stubborn, But…

Cass PursellHere’s an anecdote I came across recently that reminded me of why many businesses I’ve been involved with have trouble successfully implementing their innovation intentions. On Thursday, September 4, 1862, Lee’s army was headed north, crossing the Potomac. A … Read More

Microsoft National Innovation Forum – Part IV: The Album and Acknowledgements

Praveen Gupta

Finally, thanks to everyone at the forum, and special thanks to Julie Gatzkiewicz for her superb photography!

Thanks to Simon, Joe, Don, and Shelley Stern Grach for inviting me to the Microsoft National Innovation Forum, and for granting permission to … Read More