Modern TRIZ Academy India
Mr. Prerak Contractor
Business Development Officer
for India, Master of Global Production Engineering
Vadodara, INDIA
Tel.: +91-(265)-2356783
Mob.: +91-(0)-9898234371
| Author’s Foreword |   |
Humanity developed on the stepping stones of inventions*. Brilliant inventions brought humanity to breathtaking heights. Millions of other inventions made these stepping stones and the entire construct of civilization secure. The rise of civilization accelerated continuously.
But, the process of inventing remained the same throughout the ages. There was intellectual torture about a problem, a search in all possible directions, countless unsuccessful attempts, stumbling, total loss in a labyrinth, circular movement in fog, and - very rarely - unexpected ideas shone like a light in the deepest darkness, like the realization of our dearest dreams or a cure for an incurable disease. This is how we invented. Sometimes inventors searched their entire lives long.
There were many enthusiasts who attempted to uncover the secret of the birth of inventing. Brilliant scientists tried to develop theories of creativity. Great pragmatists collected hordes of useful suggestions to stimulate the development of ideas and put them to use. However, all of this was only marginally successful in praxis.
This was only because it was impossible to explain and pass on individual and historical experience while inventing. Well-known descriptions of inventive creativity were written down in metaphors with emotional language and individual suggestions and recommendations. This was not done scientifically: there were no laws or methods. It was also not possible to treat inventing like an art because even art can be learned and taught to a great degree.
Despite this fact, civilization rose steadily. Enthusiasm about the progress exemplified by automobiles, aircraft, space rockets, by the Internet and cellular phones was so great and so universal that very few people in the 20th century also recognized the deadly threats that these devices in their complexity represent for humanity.
Even the shocking truth about coming global catastrophes caused by the destruction of nature by industry and technology was not sufficiently sobering. Lack of responsibility and egotism in many technocratic structures, the lack of critical knowledge about questions of global survival, and the lack of globally coordinated institutions, not to mention problems in the consolidation of the efforts of all industrialized countries - all of this has to be changed from the ground up as quickly as possible.
A secure future has to be the goal and motivation of every attempt at progress and of all politics. Engineers, teachers, and scientists can assume a part of their personal responsibility in such attempts. We should all search for organizational and technical possibilities individually and with our fellow professionals that can help avoid technogenic - and therefore - sociogenic catastrophes.
When we consider the extremely short time for inventions and the practical application of essential ideas, it is not enough to rely on the methods for finding new ideas that our wonderful, yet so imperfect civilization has created. Perhaps this civilization is sometimes so deficient because the methods that have shaped it are imperfect.
Who controls the development of humanity? Can we really make a reliable prognosis about our best way into the future? How can sociogenic, geogenic, and cosmic catastrophes be avoided? How can we insure the progress and security of coming generations?
Rational decisions about the problems above cannot be made today without the use of TRIZ.
TRIZ will be an invaluable part of all the possible sciences and learning processes that remain from the 2nd millennium AD. What could be more valuable than a science about how we can learn to think effectively, to become an inventor, or even a genius!
The following are the essential concepts of TRIZ in its modern form:
Several thousand inventions were examined for the development of the first navigators in TRIZ for the solution of contradictions. The number of investigated inventions is now more than 2.5 million. TRIZ navigators have proven effective for many years and continue to be applied successfully.
At the beginning of the 21st century, TRIZ is the only constructive theory of invention and, based on its essence, of engineering creativity. TRIZ has in no way been developed fully. It must be further developed, structured, and supplied with axioms. Special and combined theories and methods can be developed along with TRIZ, such as the integrated theory CROST – Constructive Resource & Result Oriented Strategy of Thinking & Transforming that was developed by the author of this textbook. In accordance with the model of TRIZ, still more patents and scientific-technical literature should be examined. However, the main principles of TRIZ are still invariable, just like with every other effective theory. They can therefore be considered as classical principles.
Although time and a special praxis are required for a study of the basis of TRIZ, this theory will prove itself in your future activities, regardless of your profession. The methods of TRIZ allow you to find valuable solutions more quickly and with less effort. TRIZ is simply irreplaceable for solutions to extremely difficult problems. In my more than 40 years of TRIZ praxis since 1963 when I read my first small book by Genrikh Altshuller, I have heard of no one who had abandoned it after studying its methods and models. At this point, I would like to quote a statement by the author of TRIZ:
I wish everyone success who is not afraid to search for new ideas in the creation and development of technical systems and who remembers that all of our solutions changes humanity in some way.
Michael A. Orloff
Berlin, November 2002 and January 2006
