Creating New Wealth by Improving the Fuzzy Front End of the Innovation Engine

摘要美国国家科学基金会资助0322739科恩通过改进创新引擎的模糊前端来创造新的财富这项提案的目的是发现、显著改进和传播模糊前端的有效实践，从而增加可用于化工、食品和饮料、医疗器械和石油领域创新引擎的新产品开发部分的商业上成功的主要产品的数量。这一建议的价值与促进FFE中的知识有关--这是一个研究不足的领域。更广泛的影响是使新的科学和技术发现能够更快地转化为产品。创新过程可分为三个部分：1.创造产品概念的FFE，2.开发产品的NPD部分，以及3.产品销售的商业化。对新产品开发部分的做法进行了广泛的调查。然而，大多数公司发现，现在效率很高的NPD部分主要是低利润和低风险的增量项目。更好地了解FFE将使更多的高风险平台和激进项目被引入新开发项目。这一目标将通过七个连续步骤实现：1.在目标细分市场中进行案例研究；2.与合作伙伴公司(即工业研究院、Cabot公司、ethicon、埃克森美孚、Lord Corporation和Rich Products)开发具有结果衡量标准的有效调查；3.调查目标细分市场；4.通过走访排名前20%的公司确定最有效的做法，并将它们与50%的匹配做法进行比较；5.开发一种评估工具，公司可以使用该工具将其做法与前20%的做法进行比较；6.在使用评估工具的实际干预中应用这些方法；7.开发传统的和支持网络的课程材料，以传播知识。

Abstract for NSF Grant 0322739 KoenCreating New Wealth by Improving the Fuzzy Front End of the Innovation EngineThe objective of this proposal is to discover, significantly improve and disseminate effective practices for the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) so as to increase the number of commercially successful major products that may be fed into the New Product Development (NPD) portion of the innovation engine in the Chemical, Food and Beverage, Medical Device and Petroleum segments. The value of this proposal is related to advancing knowledge in the FFE - which represents an under researched area. The broader impact is the enablement of new scientific and technological discoveries to be more quickly turned into products.The innovation process can be divided into three parts: 1. the FFE where product concepts are created 2. the NPD portion where the product is developed and 3. commercialization where the product is sold. Practices for the NPD portion have been extensively investigated. However, most companies have found that the, now efficient, NPD portion is being mostly fed with low profit and low risk incremental projects. A better understanding of the FFE will allow more high risk platform and radical projects to be introduced into the NPD.This goal will be achieved in seven sequential steps: 1. perform case studies in the targeted segments; 2. develop a validated survey with outcome measures with partner companies (i.e. Industrial Research Institute, Cabot Corporation, Ethicon, ExxonMobil, LORD Corporation and Rich Products); 3. survey the targeted segments; 4. determine the most effective practices by visiting companies in the top 20% and compare them to a matched pair in the 50% octal; 5. develop an assessment tool which companies can use to compare their practices against the top 20%; 6. apply the methodologies in an actual intervention using the assessment tool; and 7. develop traditional and web enabled course material to disseminate the knowledge.