Thursday, November 21, 2013
Day 2, 8th Iberoamerican Innovation Congress
The Wednesday evening tour of the Gran Museo del Maya was
magnificent in multiple dimensions—unique architecture, and video/music
production that covers the entire outside of the museum, and a private tour of
the exhibits with a knowledgeable (and entertaining guide), finished with a
midnight picnic before the bus trip back to the hotel. And talking TRIZ the whole time!
I was the first speaker on Thursday morning, combining some
of the work done by Tim Brewer, Joe Miller and me on the insights that TRIZ
analysis can provide for new business models, with crowdsourcing and
crowdfunding used as examples. The
audience demonstrated great enthusiasm, and asked a number of questions about
how to manage the intellectual property risks in a variety of open innovation
scenarios, including crowdsourcing.
“TRIZ in the University Autonoma de Nuevo Leon” was explained by Luis Cardenas Franco. Nuevo Leon state is in Northeastern
Mexico. It has 98 colleges and
universities (4 with major international reputations, ) with 15,000 annual graduates in science and
engineering, in a population of 4.6 million.
“Vision 2020” at UANL unites faculty and students with the community for
application of innovation systems to the needs of the region. Recent growth in university intellectual
property development is one sign of the health of the system. The full range of TRIZ methods—IFR, 9
windows, contradictions, patterns of evolution, etc.—are used by many people to
address many different types of problems.
See www.innovacion.uanl.mx for details.
Fabiola Cruz reported
on the use of TRIZ in creation and implementation of ideas for ISO 14001 in the
Zona de los Rios in the state of Tabasco in southeastern Mexico, known as the
“biological corridor of central America.”
Numerous opportunities for conflict resolution were defined and addressed
successfully, in electronics, food processing, and energy production.
Ruben Vasquez explained the energy-saver device for
refrigerator and air conditioning unit which he invented, motivated partly to
improve comfort and partly to save energy, since saving is more than
generating energy. The use of wasted resources is the featured
TRIZ tool—a simple heat pipe using the Carnot cycle is the core of the system
with water as the working fluid. The
audience showed considerable interest in the device itself and in the story of
the development.
The TEC de Monterrey team got a lot of audience appreciation
for their story “Redesign of an acoplamiento para 4 eje en fresadora
CNC” in order to make the CNC system
able to create a wider range of shapes, and of course the requirements included
very low cost and very fast deployment. 0.0001mm tolerance is a real challenge! Classical TRIZ resource analysis (materials,
energy, information, tools, etc.) provided the basis for the improved
system. The video of the system in
operation and the validation tests were impressive!
Celeste Cantu Alejandro presented on behalf of the second TEC de Monterrey team, demonstrating a model for innovation based on work done at
the Institute Andaluz, and expanded for a variety of applications (Modelo y Programa de capacitation en
competencias de innovation para las empresas Mexicanas.) A competency model has been developed,
supported by several templates for evaluation of organizations and individuals
in various circumstances.
Gonzalo Uscanga-Castillo presented the method for selection
of the portfolio of technical projects in the early steps of innovations. Elements of technology, intellectual
property, market conditions, investment potential and technology roadmap are evaluated. Weights are assigned to these factors, and
candidate ideas are evaluated on the weighted scale.
The afternoon’s
leading talk was by Dr. Jesus Vega Herrera of IMPI, a joint venture of 5
states of southeastern Mexico, emphasizing the value of intellectual
property and the integration of the
overall strategy of the business with the innovation strategy. Dr. Vega showed us impressive statistics on the changes in human capital in Mexico in
recent years, increasing the competitive stature of the country. See www.impi.gob.mx for more on the initiatives.
“Experiences in innovation in the water market” was the foundation of the talk by the Rotoplas chemical company. Rotoplas has 9 plants in Mexico and 5 in
other parts of Latin America. The
company has a history of innovation in the development of alternate materials
for water containers, milk containers, filters and purification methods. Innovation has been used internally for
quality improvement of management improvement, as well in the development of
ecologically sensitive technologies. Their
new projects are focused on recycling and reuse of water. Some very compact, efficient and sanitary toilet systems for use in rural
areas generated a lot of interest, as
did very rugged drinking systems for schools and other public places.
Ricardo Alvarez presented a study of
best practices in innovation, from conference sponsor, Product Development
Management Association. He focused on
all the aspects of creation of value in both services and products. He used a wide variety of examples,
including biomimetics to capture the audience’s imagination (although many were
categorizing his examples according to the 40 principles as he spoke!)
We returned to the world of water for the paper from Jose Barros--that's the name of the company AND the name of the second-generation innovation leader. He gave us a very dynamic tour of their work in irrigation, swimming pools, spas, and water purification systems, and their new ventures in information about water as well as the water itself.
The local committee organized a cultural evening at the Parque Santa Lucia. We were treated to local dancers, a guitar/drum ensemble, an orchestra, and a guitar soloist with vocalist. This was the 2422nd Thursday night performance of the Serenata Yucatena--quite an introduction to the modern culture of Merida to add to our museum experience last night.
