Commentary by Guest Commentator

Report From UK TRIZ Forum #1

This report was provided by The TRIZ Journal's popular author Darrell Mann, who organized the UK TRIZ Forum # 1, hosted in Clevendon. Here's Darrell's report:

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The UK is generating a lot of TRIZ content but it rarely gets presented in the UK. That was the starting premise for the May 14 session where we started to put the situation right. Forum#1 then was the first UK TRIZ practitioner and researcher TRIZ event. In true TRIZ-community fashion, three weeks before the event a grand total of three people had registered. Hence we decided to run a low-key mini-meeting at SI HQ in Clevedon. No sooner had this announcement been made, the whole world and his dog decided they wanted to come along. A pity since the office couldn't cope with more than 20 people. Nevertheless, despite the frustrations of turning people away, the day was deemed to be a success by the lucky 20 who secured their place in time. In all, twelve papers were presented:

1. John Cooke: How To Have Your TRIZ Cake And Eat It Too (More Impact From TRIZ For Less Effort)
2. Paul Filmore: The Effect Of Myers-Briggs Type On Engineering Innovation
3. Shuo-Kai Tsai: The BRIGHT Hypothesis, A Method For Introducing TRIZ
4. Conall O'Cathain: Pushing The Boundary Of Architectural Education With TRIZ
5. Darrell Mann: Unheard Voice Of The Customer: Understanding Populations Better Than Populations Understand Themselves
6. Olga Bogatyreva: A Tool For Solving Problems That Are Unknown Yet - How TRIZ Helps Astronauts In Their Missions To Mars And Moon
7. Adrian Cole: Unravelling And Resolving Hybrid Electric Vehicle Design Conflicts
8. John Cooke: Two Ways To Solve The Same Problem – A Comparison Of TRIZ Tools In Action
9. Darrell Mann: Updating TRIZ - 2006-2008 Patent Research Findings
10. Elies Dekoninck and Thomas Howard: Comparing the effectiveness of TRIZ stimuli with three other creative stimuli tools in company brainstorming sessions
11. Mir Abubakr Shahdad: From Computer-Aided Invention to Computer-Aided Innovation
12. Julian Vincent: TRIZ Is The Key To Biomimetics

The papers were followed by a panel discussion, (Self-)Organising the Future of UK TRIZ.

One of the best aspects of having a small audience was that the level of participation was high. Every paper received a slew of downstream questions and, for the most part, all egos were checked at the door on the way in to the room, answers were genuinely listened to and minds were open to receiving alternative views of the TRIZ world.

The short discussion session at the end of the day concluded that there was interest in running a follow-up event later on in the year. (More details of that event as soon as dates have been identified.) In the meantime, anyone who wasn't able to make it to this event, we are hoping to make a CD containing the presentations and a clutch of supplementary materials submitted by attendees who couldn't be accommodated into the formal programme. Interested parties should send an email to s.k.tsai@systematic-innovation.com.

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Darrell Mann is an engineer by background, having spent 15 years working at Rolls-Royce in various long-term R&D related positions, and ultimately becoming responsible for the company's long-term future engine strategy. He left the company in 1996 to help set up a high technology company before entering a program of systematic innovation and creativity research at the University of Bath. He first started using TRIZ in 1992, and by the time he left Rolls-Royce had generated over a dozen patents and patent applications. In 1998 he started teaching TRIZ and related methods to both technical and business audiences, and to date has given courses to more than 3,000 delegates across a broad spectrum of industries and disciplines. He continues to actively use, teach and research systematic innovation techniques and is author of the best selling book series Hands-On Systematic Innovation. Contact Darrell Mann at darrell.mann (at) systematic-innovation.com or visit http://www.systematic-innovation.com.

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