A Progress Report on the 1^st Invention Workshop, July 25-26, at EPRI Headquarters in Palo Alto.

On July 25-26 EPRI hosted the first in a series of Invention Workshops in 2006. About thirty participants, principally representing the utility industry and vendors, attended. Complete briefing materials for the workshop and the Workshop Report are available below. Two other workshops are scheduled for November 1-2 and November 3-5, 2006. The November 1-2 event, which will be co-hosted by  Case Western Reserve University’s Institute for Management & Engineering (TiME), will apply the i-Triz methodology, developed by Ideation International (at Case Western Reserve University’s Institute for Management & Engineering (TiME) ) to some central challenges in the next generation of lithium batteries; the November 3-5 Invention Workshop will feature “discovery engineering” technologies developed by Discovery Engineering International, Alliances for  Discovery, and Energy Voyager Corporation. The November 3-5 Invention Workshop will take place in Santa Barbara, California and will be co-lead by author, John Tarrant, (Bring Me the Rhinoceros) and other explorers of the creative process. Details on both workshops will be posted in the next few weeks.

• Identifying Controlling & Limiting Assumptions—Findings and Discussion 

In the process of discovering, inventing, and innovating the continuous identification and exploration of the controlling and limiting assumptions is a vital exercise. The following excerpt from the July 25-26 workshop summarizes some of the principal assumptions of the participants with commentary by Julian Gresser and Dan Rastler, and further “discovery questions” posed by inventor, and Energy Voyager International Knowledge Trust Member, Roy Lahr. Read more...

• July 25-26, 2006 Briefing Workbook

The Briefing Workbook summarizes the findings of a series of conference calls and web casts conducted since November 2005, frames the central “discovery challenges,” and provides some basic instructions on: 1. How to formulate the “Core Discovery Puzzle(s) (CDPs)? 2. How to expose and explore limiting and controlling assumptions? and 3. How to “translate” these CDPs in language, metaphor, and imagery so that any creative non-expert can make meaningful contributions to its solutions? Read more...

• July 25-26, 2006 EPRI Workshop & Accompanying Conference Materials

The July 25-26, 2006 EPRI Workshop represents a first major step in building a Collaborative Innovation Network (COIN) including the major utilities around the world, vendors, suppliers, systems integrators, representatives of government agencies, academic researchers, media, financiers,  private inventors and entrepreneurs, and public interest organizations of all kinds—all under an open source architecture. For general background on “open innovation” please see: Julian Gresser, “Inventing for Humanity—A Collaborative Strategy for Global Survival” . The following include the complete conference report and other supporting materials. Read more...