I learned it as part of my 2nd year mechanical engineering design course. It was a great way to teach concept generation to novices and expand awareness of alte

I learned it as part of my 2nd year mechanical engineering design course. It was a great way to teach concept generation to novices and expand awareness of alternative solutions. As our experiance grows, we become more aware of the possibilities. I don't think any of our class still uses TRIZ in their professional work, but learning the process of seeking inventive solutions from other applications is critical. A parallel is perhaps biomimetics [1], an active current research area of 'design inspired by life/ biology'. Often, it is controversial if the invention was truely inspired by nature, or just made for good marketing. 'Shark skin' swimsuits were named by marketers after the actual invention [2]. Our experiance with heavier-than-air flight was terrible until we stopped trying to mimic how birds fly. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimetics [2] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/swimsuit-is-not-like-shark-skin-6699673.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/swimsuit-is-not-li...