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

本提案的目标是发现、显著改进和传播模糊前端（FFE）的有效实践，从而增加商业上成功的主要产品的数量，这些产品可能被输入化工、食品和饮料、医疗器械和石油领域的创新引擎的新产品开发（NPD）部分。这一建议的价值与推进FFE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.创新过程；创建产品概念的FFE2 .产品开发的NPD部分；产品销售的商业化。对新产品开发部分的实践进行了广泛的调查。然而，大多数公司发现，现在高效的新产品开发部分主要是由低利润、低风险的增量项目提供的。更好地了解FFE将允许更多高风险平台和激进项目引入NPD。这个目标将通过七个连续的步骤来实现：在目标细分市场进行案例研究；2. 与合作公司（即工业研究所、Cabot公司、Ethicon公司、埃克森美孚公司、LORD公司和Rich Products公司）一起制定一项有效的调查结果；3. 调查目标细分市场；4. 通过访问排名前20%的公司来确定最有效的做法，并将其与排名前50%的八进制公司进行比较；5. 开发一种评估工具，公司可以用它来与排名前20%的公司进行比较；6. 使用评估工具在实际干预中应用这些方法；和7。开发传统和网络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.