Little "i" Innovation

Cass Pursell A process engineer is hired by a service organization after a successful career spent improving work flow and throughput in a manufacturing environment. He busies himself identifying tools he used in his manufacturing career that could be retrofitted … Read More

Out-of-Place Artifacts and Disruptive Innovation

Michael S. Slocum

Archeologists sometimes find artifacts that are not consistent with the collection of technologies discovered for a certain period and/or culture. These finds are termed “out-of-place artifacts” (OOPARTS).  The pyramids are often cited as a fantastic example of this … Read More

Innovation Maverick

Michael S. Slocum

The innovation maverick is that individual who perceives the way forward in an organization through the creation of innovative concepts. When an organization is in the entrepreneurial phase, the maverick is the driving force for the commercialization of the … Read More

Aligning For Innovation

Cass PursellAccording to a recent article in The Economist, Google has established a production formula that requires developers to spend 70% of their time working on core products, 20% of their time in support of non-core projects, and 10% of … Read More

Innovation with Silly String

Katie Barry

Silly string in combat? Sounds silly (forgive the pun), but it’s true. Cans of Silly String are being used in combat areas for serious work – testing for trip wires. [Click here to read the full story.]

This is … Read More

Innovation: Infinite in All Directions

Michael S. Slocum

Real Innovation has a special purpose – to find real applications of systematic innovation, analyze the systematic approaches utilized and bring those lessons to others. Paradigms must shift, cultures must change and biases must be overcome. Perhaps surprisingly, … Read More

Wipro’s Growing Innovation Business

Katie Barry

The following is from a Business Week Q&A with Wipro CEO Azim Premji:

Q: Wipro has a growing innovation business. How do you organize it?A: We have an innovation council consisting of the champions from different technology domains, practices, … Read More

Dilbert on Six Sigma and Innovation

Michael Cyger

Dilbert and his pointy haired boss tackled two topics that are near and dear to my heart: Six Sigma and innovation. In one fell swooop, he reduced both topics to buzz words and hype. While I’m sure there are … Read More

IBM Dedicates $100 Million to Innovation

Michael Cyger

On Tuesday Chairman and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano announced that IBM would invest $100 million on ten new and innovative ideas that resulted from an online brainstorming session called InnovationJam.

InnovationJam, which was billed as the “largest-ever brainstorming session,” … Read More

Real Innovation Is Upon Us

Michael S. Slocum

Problem solving is something that we all do, almost all the time. We have a tendency to take problem solving skills that we have developed for granted. We don’t even consider our approach anymore. We just face the … Read More

Innovation Certification?

Katie Barry

I recently listened to a webinar hosted by Spark Partners (www.sparkpartners.com) and KnowledgeShift (www.knowledgeshift.net) called “Continuous Innovation and Beyond – How to Earn a Black Belt in Innovation Overview.” The title of the webinar was intriguing. Achieving innovation is … Read More

Welcome to the Real Innovation Commentaries

Michael Cyger

A great deal has been published about innovation in the popular press lately. And very little of it has any substance. If 65% of global chief executives and other business leaders believe they will have to make fundamental changes … Read More

Report on First Iberoamerican Innovation Technology Congress, Puebla, Mexico Sept. 4-6. 2006.

By Ellen Domb editor@the-trizjournal.com

These are short summary reports from the 1er Congreso Iberoamericano de Innovación Tecnológica in Puebla, MX. They were orginally posted live during the meeting as an experiment on http://trizrealworld.blogspot.com. They are short partly because of my … Read More

Trends and patterns of evolution for product innovation

Noel Leon, Prof. Dr., noel.leon@itesm.mx (Presenter) Center for Innovation in Products and Technology, Tec de Monterrey, (CIDYT, ITESM) Tel. +52 81 81582012, Fx. +52 81 83284005 Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada #2501 Sur Col. Tecnológico, 64849 Monterrey, NL, México

ABSTRACT Perhaps … Read More

Case Studies from a Breakthrough Innovation Product Design Programme For Local Industries

Darrell Mann Director, Systematic Innovation Ltd, UK Phone: +44 (1275) 337500, Fax: +44 (1275) 337509 E-mail: darrell.mann@systematic-innovation.com

Joseph Poon Director, Hong Kong Productivity Council E-mail: jpoon@hkpc.org Matthew Driver Director, Network China Ltd, UK E-mail: networkchina@btinternet.com

Abstract Starting in August 2004, … Read More

Risk-Free Business Innovation

By Mark Barkan, mark@concept-catalysts.com Innovation is the act of introducing something new or doing something in a different way. Innovation in business differs from invention in that the latter is generally associated with the generation of new ideas and concepts. … Read More

Workshop On Computer Aided Innovation: Report of the meeting held in Karlsruhe on 11th of May 2006

Executive Summary A consultation workshop was held in Karlsruhe on the 11th of May 2006 on the broad domain of Computer Aided Innovation (CAI). Experts from European member states, candidate states and from outside Europe took part in the … Read More

The Energy of Innovation: A Leadership Perspective

Prepared by Anja-Karina Pahl A.K.Pahl@bath.ac.uk Dale S. Deardorff DM. d.s.deardorff@att.net November 2005 Ongoing Discussion Host: Bill Bellows (william.j.bellows@boeing.com) for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s Enterprise Thinking Network

Anja-Karina Pahl A.K.Pahl@bath.ac.uk University of Bath, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering – Claverton Down, UK

… Read More

More On Innovation Timing: Discontinuity Rate

Darrell Mann Systematic Innovation Ltd, UK E-mail: darrell.mann@systematic-innovation.com

1. Introduction In January’s article on innovation timing, a prototype algorithm was presented (Reference 1). Within that algorithm was a factor labelled ‘discontinuity rate’. The aim of this article is to expand … Read More

What Innovation Is: How Companies Develop Operating Systems for Innovation

By: Howard Smith

THE INNOVATION IMPERATIVE There isn’t a business that doesn’t want to be more creative in its thinking. According to one study, 75 percent of CEOs of the fastest growing companies claim their strongest competitive advantage is … Read More