July 01, 2014
OVERVIEW: The success of new products and services relies on meeting customer needs, but it is very difficult to identify hidden needs since customers have difficulty articulating them or do not...
Learning Center
IRI resources assist your day-to-day R&D functions and help in problem solving. Search by keyword, topic, or your R&D role to find tools to help you manage your organization's R&D and innovation process more effectively.
Open Innovation
March 01, 2014
OVERVIEW: We surveyed 125 large firms in Europe and the United States with annual sales in excess of $250 million to examine the extent to which large firms are now practicing open innovation. Our...
November 01, 2015
The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting of the Industrial Research Institute, held in April in Seattle, was Extreme Customer Intimacy. Most of the presentations focused on the technology driving new...
November 01, 2015
As founder of StumpWorx, Jonathan Kuniholm is working to create an open-source design community to spur innovation in prosthetics. I’m a mechanical and biomedical engineer and industrial designer. I...
November 01, 2015
Barriers to innovation are declining. It is easier today for an innovator to get into business than it has been at any time in history. There are many reasons for this, but most are driven by some...
September 01, 2015
This special issue maps the potential of servitization to deliver value—and sustained growth—for manufacturers who may find the processes of commoditization and globalization narrowing their profit...
September 01, 2015
Global competition is driving manufacturing companies to generate greater value by offering innovative services. Companies such as Ericsson, IBM, and GE are increasingly selling total solutions...
July 01, 2015
Harley-Davidson is now an iconic American brand, the only surviving American motorcycle manufacturer from an industry that once boasted more than 200 companies, but the company nearly died in the...
July 01, 2015
Successful growth companies are powered by effective innovation engines. Each of these has its own logic and its own sources of competitive advantage. P&G, for example, is well known for its...
May 01, 2015
OVERVIEW: Faced with a weak new-product pipeline, functional silos, a hierarchical management style, and an inward-looking mindset, Orion’s R&D organization needed to dramatically improve its...
May 01, 2015
OVERVIEW: This paper describes a new business model for advancing NASA human health and performance innovations and demonstrates how open innovation, including the use of crowdsourcing and technology...
March 01, 2015
OVERVIEW: Companies are increasingly applying service offerings to create sustainable value for their customers and stake-holders. However, sustainability involves a wide range of issues, including...
January 01, 2015
In his famous diaries, Samuel Pepys, the 17th-century London author, described his daily repast: Each morning he would break his fast with a pint of beer or ale. At mid-day, he would lunch on meat,...
April 30, 2009
President’s Pledge to R&D Spending Affirms IRI’s Commitment to Open Innovation ARLINGTON, Va., April 30, 2009 – In excerpts from a speech released earlier this week by the White House, President...
April 28, 2015
Opportunity for New Types of Jobs to be Created Due to Innovations in Additive Manufacturing, Design and Funding Seattle, WA (April 28, 2015)— The democratization of manufacturing is well underway...