The TRIZ method

What is TRIZ?

TRIZ is a Russian acronym meaning “Theory of Inventive Problem Solving”.

Strictly speaking, TRIZ is not a method but a theory, founded on the statistical study of several million patents, which shows that:

Technical problems can be solved using a finite set of rules derived from this statistical study — at the cost of an “exact” reformulation of the problem based on physical principles (systemic, parametric and physical analysis).
For innovation problems, compromise solutions perform poorly: genuinely innovative products are no-compromise solutions.
Technical systems evolve to adapt to their environment; the evolution of technologies can therefore largely be anticipated — avoiding costly mistakes when developing new products.
Context is essential: TRIZ only applies to real, concrete industrial cases, never to abstractions.

Its application relies on databases: some derived from the statistical study of patents, others structuring the knowledge of industry and research.

Concretely, TRIZ helps the designer or researcher to:

Reformulate the problem as perfectly structured models;
Get rid of the psychological inertia that locks thinking into sterile reasoning;
Propose new ideas by analogy with proven solutions;
Guide thinking through a convergent, structuring process;
Capitalise the information accumulated during the study — the problem becoming better and better understood;
Minimise resolution time by matching the tool to the difficulty of the problem.

This mechanism — and 25 years of practice — is what lets us deliver a ranked concept book in 3 to 5 days, where conventional approaches grope along for months.

How it works: the three-step process

Problem reformulation: reformulate the identified problem into TRIZ models (contradictions and Su-Fields) — using the ten-question algorithm (Jérôme Laforcade ©).
Identification of generic solutions: use of the TRIZ databases — Altshuller matrix, inventive standards and the database of physical and technical effects.
Interpretation and concept generation: derive the generic solutions into concepts applicable to the problematic system. This step mobilises group creativity techniques.

The TRIZ three-step process: reformulate the specific problem into a general problem, find the generic solutions, then derive the specific solution — From the specific problem to the specific solution, via the theoretical domain.

This process is the backbone of every one of our engagements — problem solving, innovation strategy or patent circumvention.

The TRIZ models: contradictions & Su-Fields

Contradictions

The notion of contradiction is central to the TRIZ approach. It describes the system through its fundamental physical parameters (temperature, shape, surface tension, etc.) and translates the problem either as an opposition between two of these parameters (technical contradiction), or as the need for a single parameter to take two different values (physical contradiction). These contradictions are resolved using the innovation principles, selected through the statistical ranking of the famous Altshuller matrix.

Su-Fields (vepoles)

The term “vepole” comes from the contraction of two Russian words for substances and fields. Su-Field models represent a system as normalised functions (physical functions) expressing the work, in the thermodynamic sense, performed by its components. Identifying incomplete or harmful functions enables the use of Smirnov's algorithm and the inventive standards, which provide the statistical solutions to the problem; the database of physical and technical effects then helps find new ways to perform the failing function.

Navigating these models at scale — matrix, standards, effects database — is precisely what our TRIZ Wizard suite automates, while staying grounded in physics.

A proven theory — not a fad

TRIZ was born in 1956 from the work of Genrich Altshuller, a patent engineer who systematically analysed hundreds of thousands of inventions to extract their regularities. Refined over forty years and then spread worldwide — the international association MATRIZ was founded in 1989 —, it is now taught at Stanford, MIT, Shanghai and other leading schools as “Modern TRIZ”, and applied every day in industry: more than 500 projects for TRIZ Conseil's clients alone.