“Killing” Steve Jobs. How Russians out-innovated Apple. Part 1
Soviet Intellectual Expats in South Korea
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the Korean giant Samsung, or specifically Samsung Electronics came to pick up very smart ex-soviet/Russian engineers and brought them back to Korea. There was almost immediate change as Russian engineers started innovating like crazy at Samsung Electronics. The management noticed and came asking WHY? Russian reluctantly reveal their secret — they use TRIZ! Doh! Good thing the management realized they are sitting on a gold mine and spread the TRIZ method, adopting it as a standard of innovation practices inside Samsung, That alone allowed Samsung soon to catch up to Apple.
Update: Apparently LG might have dibs on implementing TRIZ 1st as one of TRIZ masters claims he was one of the 1st hires at LG, even before Samsung Electronics did.
What is TRIZ?
So what is TRIZ? Comes from Russian abbreviation for (Теория Решения Изобретательских Задач -Teoriya Resheniya Isobretatelskix Zadach) or in English the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. Created in the late 1950s in the Soviet Union, based on research of 200,000 patents, the theory suggests there’s an algorithm(ARIZ) to the science of inventions and 40 principles (50 in modern iteration) to go about inventing something new.
The Soviet Albert Einstein
The creator of TRIZ is Genrich Altshuller, who had a strikingly similar background as the World’s famous and beloved scientist Albert Einstein. A Jew as well, he had like Einstein worked in a patent office, reviewing patents for the Soviet Navy. While Einstein was discovering the laws of the Universe, Altshuller discovered the laws of inventing. One discovered how the Universe works and another how the Universe of Inventions works.
Part 2 coming soon! Stay tuned!
Serge is the CEO & Founder of X3EM (pronounced “Extreme”) Mobility Living, on a mission to help solve the housing affordability crisis by 3D printing sustainable and affordable skyscrapers. Join us at x3em.com
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