Idea Generation

Innovation’s Starting
Point
 Idea!
 Ideas – Flash of inspiration OR Accidental OR
conscious, purposeful search for opportunities to
solve problems or please customers.

 It takes three thousand of them to produce a

single commercial success. So, companies must
regularly generate many ideas.
 Six sources of Innovative Ideas

 New Knowledge
 Customers
 Lead users
 Empathetic design
 Invention factories and skunkworks
 The open market of idea
 New Knowledge
 Ex- Computer

> Powerful but lengthy time delay

b/w new knowledge gain and
transformation into product.
> Rewards are enormous.
 Customer Ideas

> Customers are an evergreen source of innovative ideas

> best source of information on the weaknesses of
current products.
> best source for identifying unsolved problems.

Market research – Quizzing-> Outcomes-> Prioritize

 Customer Ideas(contd…)
 New trend :
Democratization of Innovation through
Direct Customer Participation.
Ex: Starbucks – “My Starbucks Idea” got
more than sixteen thousand ideas from
customers within the first few months of
operation.
 Beware the tyranny of served
markets
Sticking too closely to current customers can
stifle innovation and lock the company into
technologies that have no future.
This happens when:
• customers fail to understand technical
possibilities,
• and when they are afraid that real innovations will
render their current systems obsolete.
 Learning from lead users
 A four stage process:
 Lay the foundation:
 Determine the trends
 Identify and learn from the lead users
 Develop breakthroughs
 Empathetic design
 A five step process
 Observe
 Capture data
 Reflection and analysis
 Brainstorm
 Develop solution prototypes

 Examples:
 Honda- element SUV
 P&G
 Invention Factories

• Corporate level (long term benefits)

- Radical Innovations which various units can use
e.g . Bell Labs (Transistor, WLAN, Cell phone, UNIX)
- Huge investment in terms of time and money needed

• Business Unit Level ( short term benefits)

- Aimed at benefitting the business units directly
 Invention Factories (contd..)
 A non-formal approach
- Idea Contests
- Temporary grouping of employees to crack a
problem ( Skunkworks)
e.g Lockheed Aircraft Corporation (US fighter jet
XP-80 ) ,
JCI ( CorteX material for car interiors)
 Master of the Game
 Thomas Edison established ‘The wizard’s
Invention Factory’
 Set up the first R & D centre in Menlo Park,
NJ in 1876
 Succeeded in producing 400 over patents
 Inventions ( phonograph, tasimeter , electric
bulb )
 Where to look for Ideas ???
 Intersection of new technology and
customer needs (e.g GPS )
 Either-or Proposition (Price or Quality)
 Demographic Change ( Aging population)
 Market Change ( Charles Schwab’s
brokerage service)
 Increasing Prices ( eg. Oil )
 Environmental Concerns
 Idea Generation Techniques
 Brainstorming
 NGT (Nominal Group Technique)
 TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem
Solving)
 Catchball
 Brainstorming
Brainstorming is an effective way to generate
lots of ideas on a specific issue and then
determine which idea – or ideas – is the best
solution.

Brainstorming is guided by 5 key principles -

• Focus
• Suspend judgment
• Personal safety
• Serial discussion
• Build on ideas
 Brainstorming contd….
Brainstorming techniques falls into several broad
categories –
• Visioning - This approach asks people to
imagine, in detail, a long-term, ideal solution
and the means of achieving it.
• Modifying - Modifying techniques, begin with
the status quo—with current technology or
conditions—and try to make adaptations.
• Experimenting - Experimenting helps people
to systematically combine elements in various
ways and then test the combinations.
 NGT (Nominal Group
Technique)
NGT has two benefits relative to
brainstorming:
1. A few big talkers or politically powerful
people are less likely to dominate the
idea pool and the discussion.
2. NGT achieves participation from
everyone, including those who might
not offer ideas to a large group.
 TRIZ
 TRIZ stands for Theory of Inventive
Problem
Solving
 Developed in Russia by scientist Genrich
Altshuller and his colleagues
 This method systematically solves
problems and creates innovation by
identifying and eliminating what
Altshuller called technical contradictions
 Catchball
•Japanese method
•Catchball is a crossfunctional method for achieving 2
goals – idea enrichment /improvement and buy-in
among participants
 Open Market Innovation

 Not everything must be ‘invented here’.

 Innovative ideas can often be acquired or sold in the market
 Employ strategic alliances
 4 distinct advantages
Multiply the building blocks of innovation
Good way to raise cash and keep talent
Way to measure innovation’s real value
Help companies clarify what they do best
 Risks
 Open Market Innovation

 “Connect and develop” instead of “invest it ourselves”

approach
Eg. P&G

 Consider the following:

First, identify consumer needs
Identify adjacencies
Leverage your networks
idea
Idea

idea
Distribute and screen ideas idea
Oppotunties
 The Role of Mental Preparation

 Unintentional generation of ideas

 “Chance favours the prepared mind”
 Preparation if the first step in the creative process that leads to
innovation
Search the literature
Look at every angle
Take with people familiar with the problem
Play with the problem
Ignore the accepted wisdom
Thank You