Innovation With A Little Help From Your Friends

James Todhunter

Community and Web 2.0 continue to be a recurrent theme in many of the conversations I have with innovation leaders.  Helping innovation workers leverage each other is extremely important.  The value of intellectual assets within most companies is largely … Read More

Innovation Is Good?

Ellen Domb

“How to persuade your boss that innovation is a good thing?”

I was recently invited to speak at a conference on this topic—way outside my usual comfort zone of “What is TRIZ” or “How to merge TRIZ into your … Read More

The Timing is Ripe for An Innovation Communication Audit

Lynda Curtin

Yesterday, I received a marketing piece inviting me to a seminar on “How-to Survive” in a Market Downturn. I deleted it immediately. My intention is to THRIVE, not just to s u r v I v e. I hope … Read More

Once More on Innovation Versus Transformation

James Todhunter

If Bruce Nussbaum’s recent posts on the death of innovation have done nothing else, they have generated a lot of reactions in the blogosphere.  Although that inner voice is shouting “Enough already!”, I can’t resist making one more comment … Read More

Systematic (Software) Innovation..

Prakasan Kappoth

“…over the history of software development there have not been that many innovations..” I must have heard this statement elsewhere in some forum, but now this is the base for a new TRIZ for software innovation book recently launched. … Read More

Milan: Computer-Aided Innovation

Ellen Domb

Thanks to Gaetano Cascini and Noel Leon for getting us this abbreviated report on the  2nd IFIP Topical Session on Computer-Aided Innovation, presented in conjunction with the 20th IFIP World Computer Congress (September 7-10, 2008, Milan, IT – http://www.wcc2008.org … Read More

Booz & Company’s Global Innovation 1000

Katie Barry

Booz & Company announced its new Global Innovation 1000 report today –”Beyond Borders.” The report focuses on R&D expenses across the globe as a key innovation indicator. Their top 10 companies include: Toyota, General Motors, Pfizer, Nokia, Johnson & … Read More

Changing Corporate Culture for Innovation

Praveen Gupta

Current discussion about innovation has been dominated by the need to create a culture for institutionalizing innovation.

I posed the question “What does culture for innovation entail?” to my students representing cultures of France, China, Korea, Azerbaijan, USA, India, … Read More

Itinerant Innovation or Traveling TRIZ

Ellen Domb

There are two meetings this week.  See    http://www.osaka-gu.ac.jp/php/nakagawa/TRIZ/eTRIZ/ for the full final program of the Japan TRIZ Symposium.  We’ll have reports later in the week from traveler Paul Filmore. 

I’m reporting this week from the Business Innovation Conference … Read More

What’s Your Sign (Of Innovation)?

Jack Hipple

How many of you have seen one of Jeff Foxworthy’s comedy monologues? You know one of his favorite spots is his description of a certain behavior (usually not all the flattering, but funny), and then saying, “Here’s your sign!”, … Read More

BCG Innovation 2008 Report

James Todhunter

The Boston Consulting Group has released their latest report on innovation, “Innovation 2008: Is the Tide Turning?” As always, the BCG report provides some great insights on the state of innovation in business.

There are plenty of very interesting … Read More

Eat Soup With a Fork to Learn Innovation

Ellen Domb

My colleague Jim Belfiore at the Invention Machine Company has a great blog, with a mix of personal stories, professional observations, and just plain good writing.   

This column is a reprint of his recent blog, which is the … Read More

Seven Killers of Innovation

Praveen Gupta

Corporate leadership understands innovation is important for success, employees understand how to innovate, and innovation occurs in every business. However, the extent and rate of innovation have been insufficient. I believe that following seven killers innovation suppress our innovation … Read More

Can Innovation Be Learned?

James Todhunter

Reader Tim de Jardine raised the perennial question of “Can innovation be taught?”  It’s a question that comes up from time to time because of the persistent myth of the great thinker in the back room who is singularly … Read More

Innovation Popcorn

James Todhunter

There are parallels visible in all aspects of life.  Recently, my personal experiences in the kitchen served as a reminder of how even small changes can have hidden complexities.

Years ago, based on concerns over the possible connection between … Read More

Why Is Innovation a Competition?

Ellen Domb

Business Week’s annual list of the top 25 innovation companies came out the same week (April 28, 2008) as the Fortune 500 list.  Big difference:   the Fortune 500 has an explicit algorithm involving revenue, profit, and other measurable factors.  … Read More

Innovation Tools and Continuous Improvement Evaluations

Quality and innovation are key issues in today’s businesses and managers are focusing on special tools to improve their results, including the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). TRIZ is an effective resource for improvement.Read More

The Importance of Innovation Timing: the Fickle Consumer

Knowing when to launch a new product or service is difficult. The challenge is particularly great when the innovations directly interact with consumers. Critical information can be obtained by studying the voice of the consumer and market demand.Read More

The Customer-Centered Innovation Map

Ellen DombHarvard Business Review’s “Tool Kit” article this month (May 2008) is “The Customer-Centered Innovation Map” by my colleagues Lance Bettencourt and Tony Ulwick.  With all the soft (squishy?) “how to be innovative” articles and books getting published these days, … Read More

Dynamism in Innovation

Jack Hipple

What’s dynamism? It’s the changing of a product, system, or service in response to “something” or a pro-active management of a product, service, or organization in response to both anticipated or unanticipated conditions. In my opinion, it is one … Read More