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Methodical Inventive Thinking Workshop

How many of the sentences below are true?

Creativity is a trait that cannot be learned – either you have it or you don’t!
Creative ideas emerge where there is absolute freedom, without any constraints and criticism!
There are no creative thinking templates. Creativity is everything that does not fit into a template!
There can be no connection between logical thinking and creativity!
Creativity stems from introspection – all creation comes to us only from within!
Good thinking does not include and is not affected by emotions and beliefs!

The answer:

It is our opinion that none of the above sentences is true…

Rationale

Creativity is perceived by many to be the result of intuition, a brainwave or sudden inspiration. There are those who believe that one cannot generate original ideas methodically. However, Methodical Inventive Thinking challenges this convention and offers a technique for generating creative ideas.

Methodical Inventive Thinking focuses on principles of thinking that at first glance may seem contradictory. Workshop participants learn to become more flexible about trying other channels of thought, while at the same time remaining focused to quickly exhaust the line of thinking engaged upon.

When we examine breakthrough solutions for individual problems, we often come to the conclusion that there aren’t and cannot be any rules for creativity. But when we analyze a large number of inventions, patents or new products, we find, in fact, that there are basic templates that can help experts come up with creative inventions and ideas in their field of expertise. These templates are directly linked to how the human mind functions and defy built-in fixations in how we think and learn.

Inventive thinking is based on an algorithm that can bring about a breakthrough both in shortening the length of time needed to reach creative solutions and in increasing the probability of successfully identifying inventive directions. Despite the tremendous potential inherent in this method, we would like to mention that internalizing it requires a certain amount of time and practice. This by no means a “quick fix”.

Advantages of Methodical Inventive Thinking

The method makes it possible to spend a shorter amount of time on problem solving and increase the chances of reaching creative solutions.
Expanding one’s thinking repertoire. The method provides guidelines for creativity and tools supported by scientific research.
Unlike many other methods, Methodical Inventive Thinking enables teams to continue coming up with original ideas and unusual solutions over time.
Participants are guided through a series of questions during the problem solving process which often lead to new insights in addition to the resolution of a specific problem.
The method practices increased flexibility of thought.

Clients and experience

Methodical Inventive Thinking has been successfully implemented in many organizations all around the globe (Intel, Elbit, KLA-Tencor, Motorola, Kodak, Refael, Delta Galil, Bagir, Tower Semiconductors, Comverse, Teva, Tnuva, Bermad, Regba).

Breakthrough solutions were generated by course graduates. For example, at KLA-Tencor, a company dealing with sophisticated mechanization for sterile rooms in the semiconductor industry, following the workshop the development team came up with an innovative solution which the company then patented. At Bermad, a company dealing with water valves, the workshop gave rise to an innovative solution to a commercial-technological problem. The solution enabled a business breakthrough and gave the company access to a very important client in western Europe.

Workshop agenda

On the possibility of learning a ‘method’ for inventive thinking
Thinking templates and creativity
Constraints as a key to creative thinking
Method principles:

Focus on the problem
Challenge definition
Thinking tools to handle constraints (unification, multiplication, division, adding a dimension, subtraction, Inversion)

Practice in ‘backward design’ thinking
Practice in augmenting flexibility of thought
How to utilize the thinking tools to surprise the market with new products.
Practice on real problems
Promoting ideas within the organization. Harnessing and influencing decision makers.

Learning process

This is an intensive program consisting of partial lectures accompanied by individual and group work. The contents are of an academic level with examples from the field. Participants will be expected do their best to set aside their daily routine and keep a clear head throughout the workshop period. At the end of each session, participants are expected to devote about one hour to preparing for the coming one.

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