IDEA - Tools

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In this section we provide you with useful links to the websites of the American and European Patent Offices and other patent databases for a general overview.

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The Five Whys and the Drill Down Technique are two methods to identify and understand the root causes of problems that hold up a growing business. Both have the advantage of being simple and easy to use. The idea is to use constant questioning to move beyond a surface problem to identify the root causes of an issue.

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SWOT-analysis is a tool where you can find out your own Strengths and Weaknesses as well as looking for Opportunities and Threats you face now or will face in the future. It is a simple method but nevertheless quite powerful to help you understand your business and how to act in the future.

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The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool. It forces people to weigh each idea on 2 parameters.

 

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This creative technique is used mainly for product improvement or modification. It involves applying a series of words, verbs, adjectives or phrases contained in checklists or tables to an existing product or service or its attributes

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The brainwriting pool is a variation of the 6-3-5 brainwriting method.

It is less structured.

 

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The name brainwriting 6-3-5 comes from the process of having 6 people write 3 ideas in 5 minutes.

Each person has a blank 6-3-5 worksheet.

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This is one of the best known and most used in the business world group based creativity process for problem solving. It is a method of getting a large number of ideas from a group of people in a short time. It can be used for generating a large number of ideas or solutions for well-defined strategic or operational problems, such as for engineering design processes. It forms also a basic framework or constitutes the initial phase for the implementation of many other groups based on creative techniques.