The European TRIZ Association (ETRIA) intends to function as a connecting link between industrial companies, institutions, educational organizations and individuals concerned with conceptual questions pertaining to organization and processing of innovation knowledge. TRIZ is considered as a cross-disciplinary, generic methodology, but it has not previously been presented in terms of logic or any other formal knowledge representation. Most of the concepts introduced in TRIZ are fuzzy, and most of the techniques are still heuristic and only partially formalized. For further development and conceptual re-organization of the TRIZ knowledge base, ETRIA shall involve and collaborate with TRIZ experts and professionals from the fields of logic, organization science, informatics and linguistics.
The ETRIA has been set up to accomplish the following tasks:
- Promotion of research and development on organization of innovation knowledge in general and particular fields by integrating conceptual approaches to classification developed by artificial intelligence (AI) and knowledge management communities;
- International observation, analysis, evaluation and reporting of progress in these directions;
- Promotion on an international level of the exchange of information and experience of scientists and practitioners in TRIZ, of universities and other educational organizations;
- Development of TRIZ through contributions from dedicated experts and specialists in particular areas of expertise.

To achieve these tasks, ETRIA will form an open community which will unite the efforts, suggest opportunities for global standardization, conduct further research and development, and provide mechanisms for the exchange of information and knowledge on TRIZ and TRIZ based innovation technologies.

ETRIA aims at developing a web-based collaborative environment targeted at the creation of connecting links between any and all institutions concerned with conceptual questions pertaining to the creation, organization, and efficient processing of innovation knowledge and innovation technologies.
In the modern knowledge economy, the value of knowledge is growing relative to other assets and new intellectual property is being created at an ever increasing rate. Therefore, the ability to find non-trivial solutions, systematically generate new concepts, and create intellectual property rapidly become crucial to achieving competitive advantage and leveraging the intellectual potential of organizations.

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Claudia Hentschel (Projektleitung)

ETRIA

• Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
• GE General Electric, Munich
• HS Coburg
• HS Niederrhein
• HS Offenburg
• INSA Strasbourg, France
• KU Leuven, Belgium
• LUT Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland
• Osaka Gakuin University, Japan,
• PHILIPS Innovation Services, Eindhoven, Netherlands
• Polytecnico di Milano, Italy
• TomSpike Structured Innovation, Germany
• TU Twente, Netherlands
• University of Science and Technology Wrocław, Poland
• University of Electronics and Information Technology, Warsow, Poland

http://etria.eu/portal/