TRIZ Trainings Network

At the TRIZ Summit in June 2019 in Minsk we discussed in more detail plans to set up an European TRIZ Trainings Network (TTN) and compile an EU proposal to support these plans.

Using the word “TRIZ” in that context turned out to be dangerous, since - due to different doubtful promotion activities - there is a widespread opinion, that TRIZ is another marketig label to pull the money out of people’s pockets. Hence in the following we use Systematic Innovation Methodologies as a more precise term to outline the area of interest. This includes TRIZ in its different variations as a sub-subject but is not restricted to it.

At this Web page

the main idea is explained what the tasks of such a network could be in whole, and which main directions of the project at large are of interest,
partners are collected who, in one way or another, expressed their interest in participating in such a project at large, and

A first draft for an application within the ERASMUS+ “Knowledge Alliance”, which is to be further detailed, was moved to SIM.

For communication purposes a mailing list (with archive accessible to members) is set up to coordinate the further discussions and application procedures. If you are interested to join the project, please send a mail to Hans-Gert Gräbe as the main coordinator of the project at large.

Additionally we are discussing to apply for an EC research project to set up a Research Network on Systematic Innovation (ReNSI) and (on the longer run) also to an Trainings Network within the much more ambitious MSCA-ITN “Innovative Training Networks” action.

Main ideas

TRIZ trainings exist or are to be developed in many places within the region under consideration.

The main focus of a TTN should therefore be the coordination and mutual support for these activities and the wider dissemination of Contradition Oriented Systematic Innovation (COSI) as an efficient methodology for solving complex problems that refuse simple, linear solutions, i.e. the 20% “Pareto-heavy” tasks, in particular in the newly emerging technology areas.

„TRIZ works well, but one of the key issues is that TRIZ is not yet well known; it seems to be too complex but all the attempts to simplify TRIZ did quite a damage to its reputation. TRIZ must not be simplified; instead, it must be properly structured, learned, and implemented. Only then the real results will come, and they will do it at a large scale. But we must admit that TRIZ has reached a turning point: it must be capable of supporting innovation in all the new and emerging technologies and methodologies of the 21st century: AI, big data, design thinking, sustainability, IoT, new approaches to education, and so forth“. (Valeri Souchkov in his Report on the TRIZFest 2019)

The big story could be based on the challenges that arise for Europe from the developments in the Asian region especially in this area (SAMSUNG’s internal trainings of TRIZ engineers during the last 20 years, the mass-engineer-oriented training model MEOTM program in China, MATRIZ has massive membership growth from this region, so even majorities are changing), but so far are only halfheartedly encountered by the European research strategies.

For MEOTM see Runhua Tan. TRIZ，the development and dissemination in industries in China. TRIZCON 2017. pdf

The main directions of the project at large should cover the structures

of intra-company training and application of systematic invention methods,
of training, consultancy and application of systematic invention methods in more complex inter-company business structures,
for training the trainers and further development of an communication and exchange structure and culture between the high level experts in systematic invention methodologies (as MATRIZ and ETRIA),
of an academic anchoring of this topic in the core engineering education and further education, and
of strong academic research on systematic invention methodologies, with clear recognition in a wider academic audience (as a prerequisite for placing successful research proposals in this area),

even if not all these directions can be covered in a single proposal.

To a lesser extent, there is a need for common curricular efforts, since many things already exist. In this direction we should above all focus on the visibility and networking of such offers, in particular

address the meta-level of the description and common digital exposition of existing offers
the practical exchange of students and graduates,
the common development of a digital infrastructure that provides an interface for cooperative promotion and maintenance of local training services.

A strong link should be made to OER (Open Educational Resources), i.e. compile a stock of freely available (or cooperatively maintained) common material that can serve local business (both in education and training). So earn money not from IP but from Services.

See the Fellowship Repository “Educating the Edisons of the 21st Century” of Igor Belski et al. at the Global RMIT University
Note that we started with this WUMM Project another initiative in that direction and set up a certain github based infrastructure.

Building the Consortium

Regardless of the specific application conditions, which, depending on the call for tenders, require a concentration on a smaller number of key partners in a specific constellation, which then also lead the respective EU proposal, we are consolidating the already visible network structures and create a pool of key partners and regional coordinators as the core of a coordinating structure in order to react quickly on new tenders.

The coordinators should

represent the entire regional diversity,
take over cooperation with other key partners in their respective region and
take responsibility for individual work packages coordination.

The key partners support the coordinators in their work. The coordinators form the project consortium that meets the key decisions based on a previously public discussion on the project mailing list.

At the present time (20 Nov 2019) I agreed in negotiations with different persons on the following consortial structure (ML - this person subscribed to the project mailing list). The regions are listed in the order of the date of the agreement.

Germany (Member State)
- Leipzig University
  - Hans-Gert Gräbe (ML) - key partner, coordinator
  - Further members: Sabine Lautenschläger (ML), Ken Kleemann (ML), Thomas Neumuth
  - Contributions: Heritage of the GDR Inventor School movement, WUMM project on open-sourcing TRIZ related material, application of semantic technologies, TRIZ and sustainability, TRIZ in medical technology.
  - Expected support from the Network: Build up a regional TRIZ trainings network (Mitteldeutsches Kompetenzzentrum) and competence center both for inter company trainings (togehter with local IHK) and anchoring such training in the student education at regional universities.
- German TRIZ Network
  - Robert Adunka, Barbara Gronauer, Christian M. Thurnes (ML) - HS Kaiserslautern, Oliver Mayer (ML) - Bayern Innovativ (key partner), Andrea Badura - HS Landshut, Kai Hiltmann - HS Coburg, Rainer Eidloth (ML), Armin Lau - Schaeffler Group
  - Contributions: See the links to the web sites above, competence center OPINNOMETH at HS Kaiserslautern, TRIZ application and training at Schaeffler Group, more to be added
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
- Pavel Livotov (HS Offenburg, ML) - key partner
  - Contributions: Design Theory, New Product Developent, Knowlegde-based Innovation, TRIZ Methodology
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
  - I would participate in the H2020 project application as a partner with at least two doctoral students in the field of TRIZ and Eco-Innovation in Process Engineering.
Belarus (Region 2)
- Belorussian State University
  - Konstantin Mulyarchik (ML) - coordinator
  - Contributions: To be defined
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
- Target Invention
  - Nikolay Shpakovski (ML), TRIZ Master - key partner
  - Contributions: OTSM-TRIZ, TRIZ online training system used in Belarus, Korea, China, planned use in Leipzig
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Ural Region (Region 4)
- bmtriz.com
  - Anton Kozhemyako (ML, MA TRIZ director for Developing TRIZ Applications for Business and Management) - coordinator
  - Further members: Evgeni Pokalo
  - Contributions: Altshuller Library in Chelyabinsk, Application of TRIZ in business structures, inter company TRIZ training, MA TRIZ director for TRIZ and Business (Anton)
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Moscow Region (Region 4)
- Moscow
  - Elena Redkolis (ML), npk-consult.com - coordinator
  - Further members: Dmitriy Bakhturin (Director of the TRIZ Center at Rostex, Vice President for new projects at MA TRIZ), Kirill Domkin (ML)
  - Contributions: Application of TRIZ in business structures, inter company TRIZ training
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
France (Member State)
- INSA Strasbourg
  - Denis Cavallucci (ML) - coordinator
  - Contributions: In 2018 we compiled an - unfortunately unsuccessful - Erasmus+ grant application CLEIADE. The plan was to cluster 14 international higher education institutions to cooperate on the teaching of Inventive Design. The operational objective was to develop new and innovative Information and Communication Technologies in Teaching (ICTT) means to teach Inventive Design based on MOOC + Serious Game + Problem Based Learning (PBL). The research unit is fully dedicated to Inventive Design Theories, methods and tools, both in teaching and in research.
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Poland (Member State)
- Warsaw
  - Jerzy Chrzaszcz (ML), Sergey Yatsunenko (Warsaw)
  - Contributions: To be added
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
- Wrocław
  - Sebastian Koziołek
  - Contributions: Research is focused on the development of a new method for building a formal design representation space and a new inventive design method incorporating elements of various heuristics methods
Austria (Member State)
- Graz,
  - Jürgen Jantschgi (ML)
  - also Rector at HTL Wolfsburg
  - Contributions: To be added
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Czech Republic (Member State)
- IKI Institute
  - Pavel Jirman (ML)
  - Contributions: To be added
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
- Brno University of Technology
  - Bohuslav Bušov (ML)
  - Contributions: For more than 20 years working on this field (TRIZ: conferences, translation of Russian and later English literature, long time lecturing on TUs and inside companies, consultancy, foundation of TRIZing Czech Association, many friends in TRIZ community).
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Ukraina (Region 2)
- Ukrainian Association TRIZ - no stable contact so far
  - Elena Gredynarova, Zaporozhye
  - Contributions: eidos TRIZ Online trainings system for children.
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Morocco (Region 3)
- ENSA Marrakech - Université Cadi Ayyad
  - Rachid Benmoussa (ML)
  - Contributions: To be defined
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Finland (Member State)
- Lappeenranta University
  - Leonid Chechurin
  - Contributions: Publications in the fields of control and system theory and automation, mathematical modeling, creativity and innovations. Expert in technology innovation and reengineering for a number of Russian authorities in public and private sector.
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined
Romania (Member State)
- Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
  - Stelian Brad
  - Contributions: Robot Programming, Intelligent Robotics, Engineering and Management of Innovation. We run training courses about TRIZ for both students and engineers since 2003. There are also some own contributions to this field. We have been also involved in some FP7 and H2020 projects dealing with systematic innovation, too.
  - Expected support from the Network: To be defined

Further interest in cooperation have signaled so far

Kobus Cilliers (ML, systematic-innovation.com, UK, TRIZ Journal editor)
Christoph Dobrusskin (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)
Mika Helaskoski (ML, Finland)

Funding Opportunities

We shortly discussed to apply within the Marie Curie Action, but this turned out to be far too ambitious, serious prospects of success are hardly to be expected in that direction in view of the low academic reputation (and even recognition - see above the statement of Valeri Souchkov) of TRIZ approaches. This can be successfully changed only in the long run.

Evaluating other opportunities the ERASMUS+ Key Action 2 Programme “Knowledge Alliances” seems best to fit the current state to link existing and planned curricula in “Systematic Innovation Methodologies” at different HEI (higher educational institutions) with the requirements and needs of industry.

We started to compile an application in that direction. I moved these consideration to a separate web page.