Kobus Cilliers

As the Editor and Chief of The TRIZ Journal, Kobus is a 10-year veteran of TRIZ and his great strength is in designing and facilitating ‘fire-starter’ sessions, rapidly engaging people in whatever change initiative we are responsible for. He currently works in our UK office and his experience spans a broad spectrum from supervising technology programmes in high technology industries to sparking creativity and entrepreneurship skills in primary-school children. He is also Course Director at the University of Buckingham for the world’s first ‘Structured Innovation’ Masters degree.

Prof Darrell Mann

Darrell is an engineer by background, having spent 15 years working at Rolls-Royce in various long-term R&D related positions, and ultimately becoming responsible for the company’s long term future engine strategy. He left the company in 1996 to help set up a high technology company before entering a programme of systematic innovation and creativity research at the University of Bath. He first started using TRIZ in 1992, and by the time he left Rolls-Royce had generated over a dozen patents and patent applications. In 1998 he started teaching TRIZ and related methods to both technical and business audiences, and to date has given workshops to over 14000 delegates across a broad spectrum of industries and disciplines. He continues to actively use, teach and research systematic innovation techniques and is author of the best selling ‘Hands-On Systematic Innovation’ book series. With over 800 papers, patents and patent applications to his name, he is now one of the most widely published TRIZ specialists in the world. He is founding President of the European TRIZ Association and Director of Systematic Innovation Ltd.

Dr. Phil Samuel

Phil Samuel brings tremendous experience in TRIZ and innovation in general. Dr. Phil is the chief innovation officer for BMGI, leveraging more than 20 years of experience as he works with organizations to insource creativity and increase organic growth potential. Phil is a dynamic speaker and author whose deep expertise has earned him the reputation of an industry pioneer.