Use of formal ontologies as a foundation for inventive design studies
The paradigm change that rules our industry (currently evolving under the quality paradigm) requires an enterprise to organize innovation in a pragmatic way. Beyond theoretical discourses around the necessity for innovation, methods and tools, based on theories should now be translated into engineering practices to be efficiently applied. One of the consequences of this necessary evolution is that R&D departments (and especially project teams), familiar with methods and tools inherited from quality area, are pushed toward changes in their practices sometimes far from their respective cultures. Software tools for accompanying this evolution are needed. This article proposes the use of ontologies as a base to the development of those software tools. Formalization of the main concepts concerning inventive design is provided by the use of formal ontologies. The tools already developed assist the expert in the conduction of an inventive design study, from problem formulation to the proposal of solution concepts. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
ontologies inventive design method contradiction triz