Excerpts from the Elsevier report: “The Role of Information in Innovation: 2005” Case Histories Report, reproduced here with permission.
The source document for the study is available at: http://eld.lib.ucdavis.edu/conf/05/Role_of_Information_in_Innovation.ppt
Engineering Information Web site: http://www.ei.org/
• Type of Business: Automotive Manufacturer.• On: Automotive validation techniques.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Steel pit /paint issues.
• What Was Learned From Tools: Updated techniques.
• Applications of Info: New equipment.
• How Info Tools Contributed: Found a new surface evaluation technique.
• Type of Business: Automotive Manufacturer.• Research/Process/Product Worked On: Research for new polymeric materials for automotive applications, in order to improve performance, durability or address comfort and safety issues.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Knowing where the forefront of a certain technology is essential to determine what needs to be done to reach your objective in the development of new information or new products.
• What Was Learned From Tools: Status of theory and applications, in my area of interest.
• Applications of Info: Modified and optimized my research efforts.
• How Info Tools Contributed: Accelerated research efforts.
• Type of Business: Automotive Manufacturer.
• Research/Process/Product Worked On: Magnetoelastic materials applied to automotive sensors.• Problem or Issue Faced: Need for low-cost magnetic sensing devices.
• What Was Learned From Tools: We are far ahead of our competition.
• Applications of Info: Redirected efforts into a more productive area.
• How Info Tools Contributed: Discovered that competitors' technology was less effective than that we use.
• Type of Business: Computer or Peripherals Manufacturer.• Research/Process/Product Worked On: Application of semiconductor nanocrystals in electronic devices.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Mechanisms of energy in the nanocrystals.• What Was Learned From Tools: We learned about state of the knowledge when the project was started.
• Applications of Info: Helped select directions interesting for further research. Accelerated learning process of the group involved in the project. Helped to generate new ideas based on the existing information. Helped to avoid directions already pursued and advanced by the community
• How Info Tools Contributed: Relying on the information found with help of the R&D research tools allowed to avoid duplication of existing results - significant time saving that allowed faster focus on the new and promising directions.•
Type of Business: Manufacturer of Electronic Products• Research/Process/Product Worked On: Medical electronics.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Applying other work on transducers to our work.
• What Was Learned From Tools: Piezioelectric technology might be applicable.
• Applications of Info: We pursued a new design that works better than previous designs.
• How Info Tools Contributed: It provided encouragement on our approach.
• Type of Business: Scientific/Medical Instrument Manufacturer.• Research/Process/Product Worked On: New applications for our technology.
• Problem or Issue Faced: General information search on above.
• What Was Learned From Tools: What persons in different fields were using our technology for.
• Applications of Info: Broadened the scope of our marketing activities.
• How Info Tools Contributed: Found applications we were not aware of, outside our normal field.
• Type of Business: Scientific/Medical Instrument Manufacturer.• Research/Process/Product Worked On: DNA sequencing technology.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Reduce cost or improve process.
• What Was Learned From Tools: About work done on a particular problem in DNA sequencing technology.
• Applications of Info: Idea for a possible instrument.
• How Info Tools Contributed: Found information on a key step in what I was interested in doing.
• Type of Business: Scientific/Medical Instrument Manufacturer.• Research/Process/Product Worked On: A steerable dialator for interventional cardiac procedures.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Patent infringement and poor prototype performance.
• What Was Learned From Tools: We were able to review existing patents. Determined that a material change was required to improve performance.
• Applications of Info: Utilized a material with higher yield strength.
• How Info Tools Contributed: The research accelerated the development process by minimizing the design iterations.
• Type of Business: Chemical Processor
• Research/Process/Product Worked On: Zeolite synthesis.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Trying to find a new method of synthesis.
• What Was Learned From Tools: Thought beyond what I read.
• Applications of Info: Came up with new method and obtained a patent.•
How Info Tools Contributed: New synthesis path found, lead to other ideas.
• Type of Business: Plastic Products Manufacturer.• Research/Process/Product Worked On: New-to-world product.
• Problem or Issue Faced: Needed to know state of background technology.
• What Was Learned From Tools: Technical approaches tried or proposed by others.
• Applications of Info: Eliminated dead ends and duplicate effort.
• How Info Tools Contributed: Research accelerated; costs of program reduced; several new directions arose for consideration.
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