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A look at the emerging science of innovation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2007

JONATHAN CAGAN
JONATHAN CAGAN
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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Extract

Over the past 20 years I have focused on the synthesis process, the process of creation, of bringing together ideas and objects to fulfill and enable needs. Synthesis is a core engineering activity, the partner in the design and analysis cycle of engineering (and other) design. Synthesis is the basis of innovation, the enabler of creating that which is new. Over the past 20 years, research and practice in the area of synthesis and innovation has become more intricate, more complex, and more complete in its breadth of exploration and depth of understanding and delivery. Research in the area that was started over the past 10 to 20 years is now being commercialized, beginning to impact the way design is practiced. The state of the art of algorithms, theories, and processes for the computing basis of synthesis research today can be found in Formal Engineering Design Synthesis (Antonsson & Cagan, 2001). This discussion is not a review of the literature or state of the art, but rather my views of the field of innovation, its emergence into a scientific study, areas of focus for future research, and some of my experiences in each of these areas.

Type
REFLECTIONS
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 21 , Issue 1: 20th Anniversary Issue , January 2007 , pp. 13 - 14
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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References

REFERENCES

Antonsson, E.K., & Cagan, J. (Eds.). (2001). Formal Engineering Design Synthesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef
Cagan, J., & Kotovsky, K. (1997). Simulated annealing and the generation of the objective function: a model of learning during problem solving. Computational Intelligence 13(4), 534–581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, M., Cagan, J., & Kotovsky, K. (1999). A-design: an agent-based approach to conceptual design in a dynamic environment. Research in Engineering Design 11(3), 172–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, J., Cagan, J., & Kotovsky, K. (2006). Unlocking organizational potential: a computational platform for investigating structural interdependence in design. Proc. 2006 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conf.: Design Theory and Methodology Conf., Paper No. DETC2006-99464, Philadelphia, PA, September 10–13.
Schunn, C.D., Paulus, P.B., Cagan, J., & Wood, K. (2006). Final Report from the NSF Innovation and Discovery Workshop: The Scientific Basis of Individual and Team Innovation and Discovery. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation.