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WHO WE ARE

MISSION &  BUSINESS UNITS

MISSION

to change the world through systems that enable everyone to think and act smarter, faster, and more innovatively.

Since 1986 our team of professional inventors, innovation systems consultants, and educators have helped over 2,000 organizations innovate.   

What makes us unique is our systems-driven approach to innovation that delivers viable innovation faster and with less risk.

Our team of diverse thinkers consists of engineers, educators, innovators, programmers, marketers, scientists, operators, artists, statisticians, PhDs, R&D experts, entrepreneurs, and six-sigma black belts.

Our 3 business units work in partnership to help advance our mission.

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Our Internal Partners

In most of our work with organizations, we work with and for everyone.  In fact, that’s part of our mission.

That said, our primary point of contact and partner in an organization tends to be:

Senior Leadership – Helping them make smart investment decisions on innovation and innovation strategy.

Innovation Teams – Helping them invent and vet disruptive innovations and build an effective and reliable Front-End of Innovation program.

Department Leaders – Helping them define, inspire, and enable their teams to be proactive problem solvers.

Human Resources – Helping them build an innovation culture through teaching innovation skills at every level

LEADERSHIP &  VALUES

Our Values

  • PERPETUAL GROWTH:  We have a passion for meaningfully improving our systems, technologies, people, and business model/offerings at least every 12 months.  We accomplish this through fundamental R&D and our commitment to “Fail Fast, Fail Cheap” cycles of learning that allow us to be twice as smart.
  • TRUTH:  When working with you we tell the total truth, no matter what the consequences, as early as possible, so to prevent later failures, and because it’s the right thing to do.
  • WHOLE BRAIN:  We live a balanced blend of “left brain PRACTICAL DISCIPLINE with “right brain” OPTIMISM FOR THE FUTURE.
  • HELP OUR FRIENDS:  We give our clients, suppliers, partners, and fellow employees the care and extra effort that we extend to old friends.  We are open 24/7 and provide all employees with the means to work beyond the confines of the traditional workplace.
  • CONNECT & DEVELOP: We aggressively pursue partnership with others who have:  1) a similar purpose and values and 2) unique assets, inventions, or resources.
  • BEN FRANKLIN LIVES:  We live the spirit of our spiritual founder – his intellectual curiosity, commitment to doing good, love of life, sense of humor, and irreverent wit.
  • WE WANT YOU TO GET PROMOTED AND US TO BE REDUNDANT:  When you win, we win.  We aim to deliver something awesome and in the process, help you get so awesome that you don’t need us anymore.
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Our clients and partners describe us as…

WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE

Our long history of working in innovation with so many teams gives you and incredible advantage. 

  • We’ve been front lines when organizations were on the precipice of change and how to navigate it.
  • We’ve seen what kind of ideas get traction and what kind fail.
  • We’ve seen innovation fads come and go.  And we’ve seen what sticks and what doesn’t.
  • We’ve seen employees engage and reject innovation initiatives – and know why.

We’ve worked with
2,000+ organizations
to help them innovate including global corporations, non-profits, small companies, universities, and governments from 22 countries

We have over
40 years
of experience in innovation

We’ve created and tested

26,000+ innovations

INNOVATION R&D

We believe every innovation company should innovate and contribute to the knowledge in the space. Below are some of our “Innovations on Innovation.”

#1 IN THE WORLD.   The demand for a smarter and faster innovation system is so great that Innovation Engineering has taken off.  Here are the numbers:
Innovations worth $19 billion in net marketplace value in active development.
Over 35,000 trained
Over 30 Innovation Engineering Network, partners – colleges, universities and consultancies. 
Thought Leading Companies that have contributed data and insights to the movement include: Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Toyota Manufacturing, Nestle, Walt Disney, Nike, American Express, Ford Motor Company, and thousands of others.

THE WORLD’S FIRST 5 YEAR FINANCIAL FORECAST FOR INNOVATION.
Using a blend of Fourt-Woodlock & Bass Diffusion models, the 5 Year Life Cycle model can predict sales over 5 years & the impact of diffusion on word-of-mouth.

VALIDATED AS “BREAKOUT INNOVATION SYSTEM” BY STANFORD. 
A team of Stanford researchers found that most “innovation methods” don’t actually result in innovative solutions.  Most simply result in “innovation as usual.”    They found that Innovation Engineering went beyond “Innovation-as-Usual” to true Breakout Innovation – out performing even IDEO.

INVENTED & VALIDATED A TEACHING SYSTEM THAT IS 200 TO 400% MORE EFFECTIVE WITH ADULTS.  
Patented Cycles to Mastery® enables everyone who is willing to achieve mastery. 

THE WORLD’S FIRST APPLICATION OF “PLAN, DO, STUDY, ACT” INTO INNOVATION PROJECT MANAGEMENT. 
Deming’s Plan, Do, Study, Act method for never-ending improvement goes beyond principle. The Innovation Engineering Project Acceleration tool makes “PDSA” a built in part of the work process, ensuring that learning & documentation are natural parts of every innovation project.

THE WORLD’S FIRST VALIDATED METRICS SYSTEM FOR INNOVATION.
Modeling innovation metrics can be tricky because there are so many unknowns.  Innovation Engineering metrics actually incorporate that variation to create models so predictive Jim Filliben of the National Institute of Standards and Technology presented a paper validating the approach.  

INVENTED & VALIDATED A SYSTEM THAT IS 500% MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BRAINSTORMING. 
The Stimulus Response® method makes it easy for anyone to create innovate solutions to their daily challenges and business problems.

INVENTED & VALIDATED AN IDEA DECISION SYSTEM THAT IS 7X SMARTER THAN HUMANS.
Merwyn Truth Teller® research provides data grounded principles for improving odds of success plus a quantitative assessment that tells you the true odds of success. 

TRANSFORMED INNOVATION FROM A RANDOM GAMBLE TO A RELIABLE SYSTEM.
The Innovation Engineering field of study transforms innovation into a real science.  It’s grounded in the world’s largest database of quantitative data on innovation – over 26,000 innovations, deep data on 15,000 teams, over $19 billion in innovations as they go from raw idea to reality.
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VALIDATED – INCREASED INNOVATION SPEED (UP TO 6X) AND DECREASED RISK (UP TO 10X SUCCESS). 
Step change improvement in innovation metrics is a result of transitioning from a “guru” model for innovation to enabling innovation by everyone through applying System Driven Innovation® principles of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

THE FIRST COMPLETE SYSTEM THAT DRIVES A 28% INCREASE IN NET INNOVATION VALUE.
Unlike others that are front end driven, Innovation Engineering goes all the way to reality. The result is ideas grow in value all through development instead of declining. (Leading organizations cite “normal” development systems make innovation values decrease 50% or more.)

“A rigorous, quantifiable process for inventing breakthrough ideas. Unlike many creative gurus in the corporate marketplace, [this] innovation system is quantified every step of the way.”
Todd Datz, Features Editor, CIO Magazine

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A safe have for creative thinking

Our headquarters are situated on the edge of Lake Barber in Cincinnati, Ohio. The facility features a purpose-built creative space with a 1.4 mile walking trail, gym, showers, gourmet food, and wine and a custom whiskey distillery with on-site bar. It’s a great getaway spot to do big thinking. It’s never a requirement, but always an option for us to host you and your team when we work together.

PROPRIETARY TECH & TOOLS

We’ve invented these methods & technologies for one purpose – to systematically enable more and better innovation.

A teaching method that ensures you learn fast and master innovation & problem solving skills

Cycles to Mastery® is a patented teaching methodology that blends the most progressive teaching methods in a way that can be easily scaled. It ensures that staff “get’s it” and the training sticks.

Innovation Ideation Sessions, Projects, & Pipeline management make work go faster

Online Sessions software makes it easy to collaborate to create and capture ideas with over 50 ideation techniques built in. Innovation Pipeline software works as your co-pilot to iterate those ideas into successful projects while providing the reporting you need to keep things on track.

Be sure you’re solving the problems worth solving

With the Insight Mining tool, we can test early theories, insights, and problem statements to ensure you’re solving the right problem at the start.

Predict which ideas will beat competition and generate such a wow that they go viral

The patented Merwyn® Technology Rapid Research Suite an test and forecast the impact of ideas in hours to quickly assess their potential in the marketplace before you invest in them.

Multiple white papers are available on the research methodology and it’s efficacy versus multiple other models – including IRI and AC Nielsen/BASES.

A complete innovation curriculum ready right out of the box

The Innovation Engineering Body of Knowledge includes 100+ education modules that easily incorporate into any LMS, Center of Excellence, or established leadership development or workforce programs.

Build a business case with a 250% greater odds of success

The Business Opportunity Recommendation report outlines the critical factors that make an innovation investable. It’s a venture-level proposal for development for leadership summarized in a 1-page memo with supporting documentation.

Benchmark your innovation culture using the world’s largest database

The Innovation Culture Report benchmarks your organization against 1,000s of others to help you see where you stand, where you’re great, and what you can do to improve.

Create 8x more Meaningfully Unique Ideas than Brainstorming

The Spark Decks® and the Idea Engineering method leverages stimulus and mental diversity in multiple dimensions to make it faster and easier to create solutions.
In matched tests, teams that used these methods created 8x more ideas (& most importantly, the ideas were of higher quality.)

Forecast the value of your Innovation using a model vetted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

The Business Simulation is a proprietary model for predicting the value of an innovation – incorporating over 100 factors proven to impact marketplace success. It includes calculations based on short and long-term time horizons, differences in distribution and awareness, and licensing fees (if proprietary).

PUBLISHING

Our work has been featured in 9 books, 6 TV programs, and 100+ articles and interviews