Integration of TRIZ and roadmapping for innovation, strategy, and problem solving

This document reports the first phase of an ongoing project aimed at combining technology roadmapping (TRM), a methodology for technology and innovation planning, and TRIZ, an approach for systematic inventive problem solving. The overall objective is to develop an enhanced methodology for systematic innovation planning, strategy and problem solving. This report is focussed on providing an understanding of TRM and TRIZ, and conceptualising ways in which they can be combined. These conceptualised combinations will be further investigated, tested and applied in subsequent phases of this project and results will be presented in subsequent reports. This report is organised into 4 major parts. The first part introduces the TRIZ methodology, its basic concepts and its major tools and techniques. It highlights the benefits of the method and how it can be applied. The second part focuses on TRM, explaining its background, framework and process. The third part highlights suggestions from literature on how to combine these methodologies and then proposes three different modes of combination of TRM and TRIZ based on their individual strengths and features. These three modes of combination have advantages over the lone application of the methods. The fourth part of the report briefly highlights other planning methods that have been combined with TRM and TRIZ, showing how other benefits may be reaped in the application of these methods. The planning methods highlighted include Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Six Sigma. Executive summary 2 PART 1-TRIZ 1.1. Introduction 4 1.2 How TRIZ works 5 1.3 TRIZ and the level of difficulty of problems 6 1.4 Main TRIZ concepts 7 1.5 TRIZ tools 14 1.6 Logic of TRIZ problem solving 20 PART 2 – Technology roadmapping (TRM) 2.1 Introduction 22 2.2 The roadmapping framework 22 2.3 Types of roadmaps 24 2.4 Tools applied in roadmapping 24 2.5 Fast-start approaches to roadmapping 25 2.6 Steps in the roadmapping process 25 2.7 Benefits of roadmapping 28 PART 3 – A tentative proposal on how TRM and TRIZ can be applied in combination. 1.1 Introduction What is TRIZ? TRIZ comes from the Russian phrase " teorija rezhenija izobretatelskih zadach " , which means the " theory of inventive problem solving " (Rantanen & Domb, 2008). It was developed by Genrich Altshuller (a Russian scientist and engineer, 1926-1998), who studied about 400,000 technology patents 1 , and from them drew out certain regularities and basic patterns which governed the process of solving problems, …