TRIZ
A problem-solving methodology that emphasizes the use of inventive principles and patterns to find creative solutions to technical problems.
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Origin
Soviet inventor and science-fiction author Genrich Altshuller began developing the methodology in 1946 while reviewing patent applications for the Caspian Sea flotilla of the Soviet Navy. Noticing that inventive breakthroughs followed recurring patterns, he studied hundreds of thousands of patents to distill 40 inventive principles and a matrix of contradictions. The Russian acronym stands for Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadach ("Theory of Inventive Problem Solving"), and the first academic paper appeared in 1956.
Updated February 22, 2026