The World According to TRIZ

Blue-chip American companies are embracing a 60-year-old innovation theory pioneered by a Russian inventor

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By Reena Jana

May 31, 2006 at 4:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

With "innovation" such a hot buzzword in business circles these days, companies are scrambling to find the magic formula for creating inventive products and services. One method that's gaining converts -- and breeding skeptics -- is a 60-year-old theory known as TRIZ.

TRIZ is the brainchild of late Russian inventor Genrich Altshuller (1926-98), who worked as a patent inspector. In the process of observing invention after invention, Altshuller sought to identify a consistent formula for innovation. In 1946, he published an article laying out his theory of structured innovation, which he titled "Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch." That translates roughly into "Theory of Inventive Problem Solving," or TRIZ, for short.