inventions and innovations in science 241
ods. (As we have seen above, TRIZ involves finding a pair
of contradicting parameters in a problem, which then — using the TRIZ inventive tables created by TRIZ teams, based
on the analysis of hundreds of thousands of past inventions
— immediately leads to selecting just a few suitable inventive principles, narrowing down the choice and resulting in a
much faster solution to a problem.)
The approach of introducing TRIZ to JAI graduate students is different, and takes into account lessons learned by
its predecessors. Instead of teaching our graduate students
the ready-to-use methodology, we are effectively taking them
through the process of recreating parts of the TRIZ methodology by analyzing various inventions and discoveries from
scientific disciplines, showing that these inventive principles
can be efficiently applied to science. Moreover, in the process
of this development, we often found that additional inventive principles, more suitable for scientific disciplines, can be
introduced and added to standard TRIZ — we call this extension Accelerating Science TRIZ (the play on words is now
apparent — the word “accelerating” is not referring to accelerators any more, but highlights that TRIZ can help to boost
science).
The approach to teaching TRIZ described above has now
been successfully introduced to JAI graduate students and
was also successfully implemented at a course in the USPAS (US Particle Accelerator School), and has also been introduced in the JUAS (European Joint Universities Accelerator
School) and APPEAL school (a one-day to one-week course
for high-school teachers that we conduct every year as part of
our outreach activity).
TRIZ methodology is another way to look at the world.
Combined with science it creates a powerful and eye-opening
amalgam of science and inventiveness. This methodology is
particularly helpful for building bridges of understanding
between completely different scientific disciplines, and so is
also naturally useful to educational and research organizations that endeavor to break barriers between disciplines.
Ultimately, my recommendations on learning and teaching TRIZ in universities can be summarized as follows. Introducing TRIZ courses/lessons to university students is
only the first step. However, while teaching these TRIZ
courses/lessons, avoid the canonical, ready-to-use version
of TRIZ. Instead, take the students through the process of
proactively adapting TRIZ for science. Arrange a sequence of
relatively short TRIZ lessons throughout the entire duration
of education in the university, so that students can gradually
build up their ability to use TRIZ methods in order to build
bridges of understanding between different disciplines that
they will interact with during their education and research.
ods. (As we have seen above, TRIZ involves finding a pair
of contradicting parameters in a problem, which then — using the TRIZ inventive tables created by TRIZ teams, based
on the analysis of hundreds of thousands of past inventions
— immediately leads to selecting just a few suitable inventive principles, narrowing down the choice and resulting in a
much faster solution to a problem.)
The approach of introducing TRIZ to JAI graduate students is different, and takes into account lessons learned by
its predecessors. Instead of teaching our graduate students
the ready-to-use methodology, we are effectively taking them
through the process of recreating parts of the TRIZ methodology by analyzing various inventions and discoveries from
scientific disciplines, showing that these inventive principles
can be efficiently applied to science. Moreover, in the process
of this development, we often found that additional inventive principles, more suitable for scientific disciplines, can be
introduced and added to standard TRIZ — we call this extension Accelerating Science TRIZ (the play on words is now
apparent — the word “accelerating” is not referring to accelerators any more, but highlights that TRIZ can help to boost
science).
The approach to teaching TRIZ described above has now
been successfully introduced to JAI graduate students and
was also successfully implemented at a course in the USPAS (US Particle Accelerator School), and has also been introduced in the JUAS (European Joint Universities Accelerator
School) and APPEAL school (a one-day to one-week course
for high-school teachers that we conduct every year as part of
our outreach activity).
TRIZ methodology is another way to look at the world.
Combined with science it creates a powerful and eye-opening
amalgam of science and inventiveness. This methodology is
particularly helpful for building bridges of understanding
between completely different scientific disciplines, and so is
also naturally useful to educational and research organizations that endeavor to break barriers between disciplines.
Ultimately, my recommendations on learning and teaching TRIZ in universities can be summarized as follows. Introducing TRIZ courses/lessons to university students is
only the first step. However, while teaching these TRIZ
courses/lessons, avoid the canonical, ready-to-use version
of TRIZ. Instead, take the students through the process of
proactively adapting TRIZ for science. Arrange a sequence of
relatively short TRIZ lessons throughout the entire duration
of education in the university, so that students can gradually
build up their ability to use TRIZ methods in order to build
bridges of understanding between different disciplines that
they will interact with during their education and research.