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Systematic Innovation Newsletter____
April 2005
We would like to thank all people who send in their spotted innovation and we welcome the numerous new subscribers to the April edition of our newsletter.
Do you have a friend or colleague you'd like to share our newsletter with? Just click here to refer them. We appreciate your referral.
This month's issue promises you more of the same in an innovative manner. Please feel free to send us your suggestions and remarkable innovations you have spotted.
Please feel free to send us your suggestions, remarks
or ask us for additional information.
We're looking forward to hearing from you!
the CREAX-team
www.creax.com
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Innovation Highlights_____________
Shark skin inspires ship coating
 A new environmentally friendly coating based on sharks' skin may soon help the U.S. Navy increase ship speeds while saving fuel.
The coating doesn't go anywhere near the engines -- it will be applied on the hull of ships below the waterline, where all manner of algae, barnacles and other wee beasties attach themselves, slowing ships and reducing their
manoeuvrability.
http://www.napa.ufl.edu
Trend: Surface segmentation
Replacing all flat surfaces with protruded ones can
give numerous advantages such as increasing
structural strength, protecting against wear,
self-cleaning or lotus-effect and also reducing
drag. In the case of the shark skin ship coating,
the main benefits are its self-cleaning effects and
reducing drag.
This property is also highly desirable in aviation.
By creating foils that emulate the structure of
shark skin, aeronautical engineers have succeeded in
reducing drag on aircraft fuselages and consequently
diminishing fuel consumption. A similar technique has been used to
reduce drag for swimmers in
Speedo's Fastskin FSII swimwear.
 Nature is an very effective problem solver. In
our book Natural Innovation by
Victor Timokhov, you will find other examples that will inspire you to use
natures solutions to improve your own products and processes.
The book is available from our website.
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Zero-detergent washing machine
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., a world leader in Home Appliances announced the sale of the Worlds first Washing Machine using Electrolyzed Water that does not require the use of detergent through the use of Ultrasonic Waves and Electrolysis. Up until now the industry standard and excepted norm of traditional washing machines worked on the principle of using the water from the washing machine's spin function and soap to remove dirt from the clothing. Three years ago SANYO introduced a new type of washing machine that was different from anything ever seen in the washing machine industry: Dirt Removal through the "Ultrasonic Wave Washing Machine". A next step could be making a waterless washing machine, just like the waterless dishwasher named " Rockpool", designed by three Australian students at UNSW.
http://www.sanyo.co.jp
The ideal detergent is no detergent
Functions remain, solutions change. E.g. people will always communicate, not always with a mobile phone.
We will always want clean clothes, not always with detergent. SANYO has brought to realization the World's first "Zero-Detergent course" washing machine.
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Cobranding: Sony - Pizza Hut
 Demonstrating a deep understanding of what its computer-gaming audience, Sony has built the ability to order pizza into its latest online multiplayer game.
Type the command "/pizza" while playing Everquest II, a fantasy game with 330,000 active players, and get the Pizza Hut Web site, where you can place orders for delivery.
Chris Kramer, spokesman for Sony Online Entertainment, said he believes this is the first time a game accepts orders for real-world items.
http://everquest2.station.sony.com
Trend: Mono-bi-poly various objects
This trend describes bringing together different
functions in your product or service to increase the
user convenience. Other benefits of adding functions
are: creating synergies, reducing number of systems
or improved operability.
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 RedCannon has tapped on the potential of DiskOnKey T5's security and processing power with its KeyPoint Crypto Mobile Storage. The enterprise-grade flash drive's data security is provided on a two-tier structure. The Sysadmin can define user policies and auditing of which documents and files are transferred to and from the drive. In the event that someone really is trying to crack into your files, the KeyPoint CMS has a built-in failsafe procedure that will delete all data on the drive after an excess number of invalid access attempts. With such robust data protection, the drive is actually compliant to HIPPA Section 164.502c for use in the medical industry.
http://www.everythingusb.com
Trend: Mono-bi-poly increasing differences
Various products and technologies combine opposite functionalities. The jump to the ‘negative' component (i.e. that component that delivers the opposite function to the existing function) is very important one.
Possible advantages are increased system functionality, increased operability; increased ability to adapt to different use circumstances, increased user convenience.
Practical examples illustrating this trend are the hammer with nail remover, pencil with eraser gum, stapler with staple-remover, paint and white spirit towels, wiper and wetting system, mobile phone and EMI shielding, wireless network and wifi jammer.
Our example illustrates storage capacity with an automatic deleting functionality.
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 This month we selected the submission of Leo Muys from Stork Fokker AESP. 
The New SwiMP3 underwater MP3 player is an incredible audio experience. Imagine listening to hours of your own music during your swim workout. The SwiMP3's innovative sound transfer technology offers exception underwater sound quality. Standard players rely on the transmission of sound through air or water causing the swimmer to perceive only muffled noise. The SwiMP3 uses bone conduction - the direct transfer of sound vibrations from the cheek bone to the inner ear - to provide the swimmer with exceptional sound clarity. The SwiMP3 is fully waterproof and can be used with all the competitive swim strokes.
http://www.finisinc.com
Use of existing resources
An important segment of the CREAX Systematic Innovation Methodology is the ‘Use of existing resources’. A lot of products and technologies offer resources which aren’t used at a maximum. Smart solutions make better use of existing resources. Who hasn’t used his mobile phone light, to find the keyhole at night? Even the stuff we think is ‘bad’ in a system can be transformed into something useful if we think about it properly. Can the hot air from your laptop be used as an energy source for your battery?
This example shows how the human skeleton (as existing resource) is used for bone conduction: the direct transfer of sound vibrations from the cheek bone to the inner ear.
 The same concept has been used for this cellular phone. The vibrations go from the wristwatch through the finger to your ear.
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 This baby suit has been modified to work as a sweeper. The baby sweeps the floor by crawling around.
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Please do not hesitate to send us a great innovation you have spotted. We might include it in our next month issue.
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CREAX Company Information_______
Hands-on Systematic Innovation seminar
"It's fantastically interesting and useful in my job."
Elena O., Mars, Russia |
Our upcoming 2days seminar on Systematic Innovation in April is fully booked. Missed this one? Don’t worry: our next seminar takes place on the 29th and 30th of June. Please find more details on:
www.creax.com/events.asp
TRIZ for IT seminar
A recent CREAX breakthrough is the development of TRIZ for IT. After the recent successful launch of the TRIZ for IT software, we now also offer a 2days IT seminar. This seminar focuses on speeding up innovations and problem solving in the IT sector. Dates: 25th & 26th of May. Please find more details on:
www.creax.com/events.asp
CREAX Creativity Self Assessment celebrates its
second birthday!
This month we are re-launching our
online creativity
test with support for 3 different languages:
English, German and Dutch. The Creativity Self
Assessment is a FREE assessment of your level of
creativity measured across 8 different metrics.
 Since
its conception exactly 2 years ago, over 45000 people
have tested their creativity. The website was featured
on various websites, magazines and newsletters. Articles
in NY Times and a
piece on BBC World drove so much traffic that our
web server nearly melted down.
To compare your creativity with others, you can take
the creativity test here.
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Miscellaneous___________________
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CREAX n.v. Mlk.Plumerlaan
113 8900 Ieper Belgium
T +32 57 229480 F +32 57 229481
www.creax.com
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