Investments – Piezoelectric Textiles

Darrell Mann

Working up a sweat from carrying a heavy load? That is when the textile works at its best. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a fabric that converts kinetic energy into electric power, in cooperation with … Read More

Patent of the Month – Microfluidic Desalination

Darrell Mann

Patent of the month this month takes us to a trio of inventors at the University of Texas. US9,932,251 was granted on April 3. The wonderfully succinct background description describes the motivation for the invention as follows:

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Case Study: Effectuation

Darrell Mann

According to the business theory of good and bad capital, good money is money from investors who are willing to wait for growth in the size of the enterprise, but who are hungry for profit in the short-term. … Read More

Investments – e-Skin

Darrell Mann

University of Colorado Boulder researchers have developed a new type of malleable, self-healing and fully recyclable “electronic skin” that has applications ranging from robotics and prosthetic development to better biomedical devices.

Electronic skin, known as e-skin, is a … Read More

Case Study: Rethinking Healthcare

Darrell Mann

I picked up my newspaper today and found the word ‘crisis’ written over 40 times. Six of them as part of a headline. Debt crisis, NHS budget crisis, obesity crisis, KFC crisis, Brexit crisis, weather crisis, plastic crisis. … Read More

Investments – Rotational 3D-Printing

Darrell Mann

Harvard engineers have demonstrated a new 3D printing technique that allows the arrangement of short fibers in the printed material to be finely tuned. The spinning printer head gives the technique the name “rotational 3D printing,” and according … Read More

Patent of the Month – Anisotropic Metamaterials

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month takes us to the University of Texas in one of my favourite cities, Austin. US9,893,432 was granted to a pair of inventors on February 13. I have to admit it nearly … Read More

Investments – Roman Concrete

Darrell Mann

I live near the sea. A few years ago, a storm washed away some of the jetty. The council repaired it. Four years later the area was cordoned off because the repair was eroding at an apparently precipitous … Read More

Hurricanes, Pop-Tarts & Optimization Versus Innovation

Darrell Mann

“HURRICANE FRANCES was on its way, barreling across the Caribbean, threatening a direct hit on Florida’s Atlantic coast. Residents made for higher ground, but far away, in Bentonville, Ark., executives at Wal-Mart Stores decided … Read More

Patent of the Month – Nanowire Motor

Darrell Mann

We delve down into the micro-scale world for our patent of the month this month, and another lovely looking patent from the University of California, this time in San Diego. US 9,698,708 was granted on Independence Day. The … Read More

Case Study: Of David’s And Goliath’s

Darrell Mann

This is a true case study relayed to me at a recent workshop.

TRIZ/SI was not explicitly used during the definition or solution of the problem.

Rather, the case study is intended as an illustration of how Systematic … Read More

Case Study: Nationalisation Versus Privatisation

Darrell Mann

Politics depresses me. For the most part I try and stay away. I blame TRIZ. Or possibly Edward de Bono. Or possibly Socrates. He was the one that forced politicians into thinking the world had to be either … Read More

Case Study: The Italian Job

Darrell Mann

The Italian Job is a 1969 British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. For Brits of a certain age, it has become a cultural icon. In 2004, the … Read More

Patent of the Month – Target Neutralization

Darrell Mann

I love obvious. Sometimes a solution can look so obvious, you have doubts that it is real. Then you notice that the owner is Lockheed, so you realise, hmm, maybe there’s something interesting happening here. The solution in … Read More

Investments – Silk Coating

Darrell Mann

Food waste has an impact on food quality and safety, representing a loss of economic value and resources, and, a hindrance to economic development. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has estimated that one-third … Read More

Investments – Ultrasound ‘Drill’

Darrell Mann

‘Ultrasound can do anything’ part #455. One of my small paranoia’s in life is the potentially lethal effects of something as simple as a blood-clot. For almost as long, I’ve assumed that ultrasound ought to be a way … Read More

Equity (Or Not)

Darrell Mann

We’ve been doing quite a lot of work in the public sector this year. Which means enduring lots of noble-but-woolly thinking about concepts like equity. It usually doesn’t take long for the above image to be brought into … Read More

Case Study: Cleaning School

Darrell Mann

In theory, keeping school buildings clean is a simple problem. On the other hand, because it involves people – especially those wonderful balls of chaos called ‘pupils’ – it turns out to be complex. As in complex-adaptive-system complex. … Read More

Patent of the Month – ThermoAcoustic Engine

Darrell Mann

Well, it’s never going to win prizes for readability, but patent of the month this month is nevertheless an elegant evolution of the thermoacoustic engine. US9,777,951 was granted to a quartet of inventors at Tokai University in Japan … Read More

Case Study: B2B Intangibles

Darrell Mann

Everyone involved in the Business-to-Consumer world is at least beginning to understand the importance of designing for the unspoken intangible outcomes customers are looking for. A lot of times those in the B2B world still don’t get it. … Read More