A Function-Oriented Ontology Tool for Solving Inventive Problems

Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology, Vol. 46, No. 4, November 2014 Copyright© 2014, Australian Computer Society Inc. General permission to republish, but not for profi t, all or part of this material is granted, provided that the JRPIT copyright notice is given and that reference is made to the publication, to its date of issue, and to the fact that reprinting privileges were granted by permission of the Australian Computer Society Inc. Every technical system provides at least one useful function. A problem-solving tool called Substance-Field Analysis – which is a TRIZ tool – uses the concepts of function and interaction to identify and describe the evolutionary changes of a system, in order to transfer successful system transformations among diff erent technical domains. This is, in fact, a knowledge-based tool for problem-solving. Paradoxically, no knowledge management approach seems to be linked to this tool. Consequently, this work proposes a function-oriented ontology tool, which combines the advantages of ontologies with the Substance-Field Analysis approach in order to guide creative eff ort while solving inventive problems also called innovation problems.