TRIZ: an inventive approach to invention

Conceived over 50 years ago in Russia, the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) has only recently reached the West. Faced with increasing demands and rising expectations from the market, a few firms are now using this approach to create new and improved products in a way that does not rely entirely on inspiration and chance discoveries. The author describes the beginnings of TRIZ and then describes the TRIZ process. The 40 inventive principles of TRIZ are listed. As an overall methodology, TRIZ can claim, through the contradiction matrix and the inventive principles, to be something new that breaks out of the currently popular methods of value engineering and systems engineering.