The Decline of the Corporate Lab Rat?

Cass PursellThe Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), is an organization that was once described as a think-tank for rich countries. In a recent publication, the OECD defined innovation as “new products, business processes and organic changes that create … Read More

Innovation Lessons From Italian Furniture Design

James Todhunter

I stumbled upon an interesting article courtesy of the developerlife blog.  The article, “Radical Design, Radical Results”, is found on the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge site and presents some fascinating insights from HBS visiting scholar Roberto Verganti.

Verganti … Read More

Creative Thinking

Praveen Gupta

Recently, I asked a group of students to raise their hands if they thought they were creative. I saw about 20% raising their hands that they were creative. To validate my understanding I asked them to write at least … Read More

Strange Attractors and Ideality

Michael S. Slocum

Dissipative dynamical systems contain some sort of friction. The chief feature of a dissipative system is loss of energy. A pendulum swinging in air will have dissipation. Energy is lost continuously through the various kinds of friction experienced … Read More

Training For The Innovation Ultra-marathon

James Todhunter

In “Forget about an idea marathon,” Katie Konrath uses the metaphor of racing and marathons to discuss how to work on creating a lot of ideas when the need arises.  The analogy is interesting because in business, the race … Read More

Innovators in My Neighborhood

Praveen Gupta

Writing for realinnovation.com makes me look around for new ideas to write about. It occurred to me that my neighbor, who a few years ago showed me a charger for cell phone was also working on a spa system … Read More

Welcome to the February 2008 Issue of The TRIZ Journal!

Last month, a reader suggested that each issue of The TRIZ Journal include a round-up of mentions of TRIZ in other literature. The good news is that we already do this – on a daily basis!Read More

Key to Teaching TRIZ: Breaking Mindsets

Present education often has a dysfunctional approach in that it gives students knowledge and examples of how to solve problems using that knowledge, and then assumes that the student will understand how to solve further problems in that domain.Read More

Student Corner: Overcome Assumptions – Use Fuzzy Logic

Classic logic comes down to the law of the excluded third – A or not A, white or not white. In ancient Greece they started to consider paradoxes – a "mismatch" problem, "The world is gray, but science is black and white."Read More

TRIZ Principles in Action – Improving Solar Cells

Looking at clever designs created by others within the desired field and determining what principles are embedded within is a frequently used teaching/learning tool in TRIZ. In particular, the 40 inventive principles have broad use potential.Read More

Challenges in Lubricant Additives Technology

TRIZ provides a number of tools to not only solve, but also to properly define, problems. In that sense, TRIZ ensures that the effort is directed toward solution of a real problem and no time is wasted on answering inappropriate questions.Read More

Unorthodox Use: TRIZ for Non-intended Product Use

Lots of companies deliver products that serve a determined purpose – but they often are wrong about how the product is finally used. Such diversions sow the seeds of creativity to generate ideas for new product outcomes and problem solutions.Read More

The IBM Study on Innovation

Jack Hipple

The IBM Innovation Study–What Does It Say?

The recent pioneering global study and interview of corporate CEOs regarding innovation and its importance provides many insights into not only the world of innvoation, but the competitive nature of it. If … Read More

Where’s My Return on Innovation?!

Cass Pursell

(Or, Is That a Canary in Your Coal Mine?)

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in partnership with BusinessWeek, conducted (from October 2006 through March 2007) its fourth annual survey of senior executives on innovation and the innovation-to-cash process.

Its … Read More

Wal Mart Saves the World

Cass PursellWal Mart is being complimented and criticized in equal measures for its Green Innovation program. As one of the most polarizing business entities in modern history, Wal Mart’s ability to elicit this kind of dueling reaction is hardly surprising. … Read More

TRIZ in ASQ’s New Issue

Katie Barry

The American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) magazine, Quality Progress, January issue’s cover story, ”Conflict and Complexity,” looks at the use of problem-solving techniques, including TRIZ, and how they could have been used to prevent the Challenger disaster.

You do have … Read More

Innovation Supersymmetry

Michael S. Slocum

A look into string theory from the field of physics will give us an interesting analogy to leverage. String theory is a method of reconciling the fact that general relativity as a theory only works if we ignore … Read More

Broken Windows of Innovation

James Todhunter

Social policy has long been influenced by the Broken Window Theory.  Strangely, I see a similar phenomenon at work in our innovation neighborhood.  I see the evidence in the language of the discussion that is used.

Usually, I don’t … Read More

Global Innovation – Part II

Praveen Gupta

While going to India for participating in the convocation events at IIT, Chicago’s Bangalore campus, I was supposed to travel from Chicago to Newark, and then catch the international flight to Delhi. Due to the size and cost associated … Read More

Your New Years Innovation Resolutions

Jack Hipple

It’s the New Year. What’s new? Innovation is still the “buzzword”, but I go to many presentations at meetings where the talks are not about innovation, but about astute business choices (plant locations, etc.). I’m afraid that innovation is … Read More