Invited specialist paper: the four pillars of TRIZ

摘要

Constructed around the findings of over 1500 person years of research, and the systematic extraction of knowledge from nearly 3 million of the world's finest patents, the Russian Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, TRIZ, is the most comprehensive systematic innovation and creativity methodology available to mankind. From a distance, the various tools and methods contained in TRIZ can appear, particularly to occidental eyes, to be somewhat unnatural and non-instinctive. The paper examines TRIZ in the light of ongoing work at the University of Bath teaching the method and actively using TRIZ tools to solve problems across a wide range of industry sectors.