Addendum to Regulations on Multi-stage TRIZ certification

TRIZ Top Level Certification (TRIZ Master) Qualifications

Approved at the meeting of MA TRIZ Presidium dated March 2, 2007

1.     TRIZ Top Level Certification (TRIZ Master) Qualifications represents an Addendum to Regulations on multi-stage TRIZ certification, which was accepted in MA TRIZ and implies a five-level certification system. The TRIZ Master qualification corresponds to Level 5 and is the highest professional level in this system. Issuing TRIZ Master diplomas to specialists who have made the largest contribution to developing TRIZ is intended to continue traditions established in the International TRIZ Association by its First President, G.S. Altshuller.

2.     The main goals of establishing the highest (fifth) level certification in MA TRIZ are to:

·       Develop TRIZ as a scientific theory, including the development of TRIZ methodological grounds, tools for inventive problem analysis and solving, and so forth

·       Widen the range for practical applications of TRIZ 

·       Create incentives for TRIZ research and development; publicly recognize the personal contribution of researchers into the development of TRIZ as a science.  

3.     All TRIZ Master Diplomas issued by the International TRIZ Association grant equal rights to their holders irrespective of the diploma issuance date. TRIZ Masters are members of the Supervisory Council of MA TRIZ, they have the right to become members of the MA TRIZ Dissertation Council as well as to individually certify TRIZ specialists up to level three (inclusive), provided the appropriate authorities are granted to them by MA TRIZ.

4.     Applicants for level five certification should have a level four TRIZ specialist certificate or a diploma of TRIZ methodologist signed by the first President of TRIZ Association G.S. Altshuller (Appendix 1) and no less than 5 scientific publications in international TRIZ editions (including theses of scientific papers for international conferences).

5.     To pass level five certification, applicants should prepare a TRIZ thesis and defend it at the MA TRIZ Dissertation Council session. To qualify as a TRIZ Master, a TRIZ specialist must make a significant contribution to the development of TRIZ as a science.

6.     The Chairman of the Dissertation Council is appointed by the MA TRIZ Presidium and, by virtue of his position, is a member of the expert and methodology council of MA TRIZ. The Chairman of MA TRIZ Dissertation Council selects members for the Dissertation Council, directs its activities, works out the policy of the MA TRIZ Dissertation council work, conducts Dissertation Council meetings or appoints one of the members of Dissertation Council to be the meeting chairman. Only TRIZ Masters can be members of the Dissertation Council. MA TRIZ Dissertation Council meetings that are devoted to examining the TRIZ theses are conducted only in presence of the thesis author. The Chairman of the Dissertation Council appoints the Academic Secretary of Dissertation Council, whose functions include resolving the organizational issues of Dissertation Council work, paper work, record keeping, and other information and clerkship work.

7.     The Dissertation Council appoints the opponent(s) to a TRIZ thesis that will be examined. The opponent(s)’ opinion should be prepared 2 weeks prior to the meeting of the Dissertation Council. The recommended structure of the opponent’s opinion is given in Appendix 3.  

8.     The Dissertation Council members number from 7 to 12 — selected to participate in specific meetings — and are named by the Chairman of the council no later than a month before the meeting. All members of the Dissertation Council should have access to all the materials of the applicant's TRIZ thesis.   

9.     Three months before the MA TRIZ Dissertation Council meeting, applicant should send an application (in Russian or in English) to MA TRIZ (to the MA TRIZ President, MA TRIZ Dissertation Council Chairman, and to the Academic Secretary of the MA TRIZ Dissertation Council). It should include a letter addressed to the MA TRIZ President with a request to consider the application, contact information, last name, first name, title of the applicant, number of level four TRIZ specialist certificate (or a copy of TRIZ methodologist diploma signed by G.S. Altshuller), title of TRIZ thesis. It should also include the last name, first name, and title of the scientific supervisor of the thesis (TRIZ Master), references to no less than five published scientific articles on TRIZ, short abstract on the thesis (no less than 1000 symbols), and a photograph.     

10.  Main requirements for the TRIZ thesis are as follows:

·       Scientific novelty of the research work

·       Applicable and effective proposed methods

·       Verifiable practical results

·       Reproducible results after using the proposed methods

The TRIZ thesis should constitute at least 30 pages. The size of the author's abstract should be no less than 5 pages. Both author's abstract and TRIZ thesis should be submitted in electronic form and in hard copies — 5 to 15 copies of each. It is mandatory that one copy of the TRIZ thesis and the author's abstract should be sent to the Fund of Materials of MA TRIZ and to the TRIZ Materials Fund of Cheliabinsk Province All-purpose People's Library. The recommended structure of the TRIZ thesis, author's abstract, and opinion of the scientific supervisor are given in Appendix 3. A monograph written by the applicant or a set of his/her scientific publications may serve as a TRIZ thesis. 

11.  The date and location of next meeting of the Dissertation Council is set by the MA TRIZ Presidium no later than 4 months prior to the meeting.  

12.  The defense of TRIZ thesis should occur in presentio not more than twice a year. Meetings of the Dissertation Council should be held concurrently with one of the annual international TRIZ conferences, provided that organizers of such conferences have agreed with the timeframe.      

13.  A month before the in presentio meeting, all information required to examine the TRIZ thesis should be sent to the MA TRIZ Dissertation Council (addressed to the Chairman and Academic Secretary of MA TRIZ Dissertation Council) — namely, TRIZ thesis, author's abstract, opinion of scientific supervisor, CV, and photograph of the applicant. All materials should be prepared in Russian or in English. Author's abstract of the TRIZ thesis is submitted both in Russian and in English.        

14.  The rules of procedure of the in presentio meeting of the MA TRIZ Dissertation Council are as follows:

·       One hour is allocated for the presentation and discussion of each TRIZ theses; this includes a short introduction presented by the scientific supervisor (5 minutes), presentation of the applicant (30 minutes), opponent’s response (5-10 minutes each) and questions

·       Questions to the applicants can be asked only by the present members of the MA TRIZ Dissertation Council

·       Dissertation Council meeting should be conducted either by the Chairman or a member of the Council appointed by the Chairman

·       A secret ballot is used to decide on the TRIZ Master certification. The decision is considered to have passed if 2/3  of votes taken in the ballot are in favor. No less than six TRIZ Masters should take part in the ballot

·       Scientific supervisors that collaborate on the TRIZ theses should not participate in voting

·       Dissertation Council has the right modify the procedure rules of  its’ work

·       Dissertation Council meeting is an open meeting, and it can be attended by public representatives and TRIZ specialists without restrictions

15.  MA TRIZ Presidium approves the decision of the Dissertation Council (ensuring it has complied with the Regulations and Rules of Procedure accepted in MA TRIZ), and after that, the staff of the MA TRIZ President prepares and sends the diplomas signed by MA TRIZ President and Dissertation Council Chairman, or by the chairman of the Dissertation Council meeting, to the new TRIZ Masters. The signatures are verified by a MA TRIZ stamp.     

16.  Specialists certified for level five (top level) get the TRIZ Master Diplomas on a specially printed form (Appendix 2).

17.  The fee for passing the fifth level (top level) certification and the procedure for paying this fee is specified by the MA TRIZ Presidium.

18.  Information on TRIZ Masters is presented in MA TRIZ websites.

19.  All issues of dispute should be resolved by the MA TRIZ Presidium.

20.  The present Regulations and amendments to it should be approved by the MA TRIZ Presidium.

Appendix 1.

Example of a TRIZ Trainer and Methodologist Diploma dated 1994 signed by the President of the TRIZ Association G.S. Altshuller

 Appendix 2.

Pre-Printed Form of TRIZ Master Diploma

Appendix 3.

Recommended structure and content of the author's abstract of TRIZ thesis

·       General characteristic of research work.

·       Relevance of the theme of the research.

·       Goals and tasks of the research.

·       Research method.

·       Scientific novelty of the research.

·       Practical significance of the research.

·       Main provisions presented for defense.

·       Personal contribution of the applicant.

·       Validation of the research work.

·       Publications.

·       Structure and size of the thesis.

·       Author's abstract of the thesis should be prepared both in Russian and English.

Recommended structure and content of TRIZ thesis

·       Preface.

·       Relevance of the theme of research.

·       Goals and tasks of the research.

·       Review of known approaches to a given problem.

·       Detailed statement of the problem.

·       Method for solving the stated problem.

·       Results of the research.

·       Practice of the application.

·       Analysis of results of the conducted research.

·       Personal contribution of an applicant.

·       Conclusions and recommendations for application.

·       List of publications of the author on the thesis theme.

·       TRIZ thesis should be prepared in Russian or English.

Recommended structure and content of the scientific supervisor's opinion

·       Relevance of the thesis.

·       Goals of research.

·       Scientific-and-methodological approach.

·       Main results.

·       Practical value of results.

·       Novelty.

·       Recommendation.

·       Opinion of the scientific supervisor should be prepared in Russian or English.

Recommended structure and content of the opponent’s opinion

·       Relevance of the thesis.

·       Goals of research.

·       Scientific significance of the obtained results.

·       Practical value of results.

·       Validation.

·       Novelty.

·       Structure of the thesis.

·       Disadvantages of the thesis.

·       Characteristics of submitted thesis.

·       Conclusion.

·       Opinion of the scientific opponent should be prepared in Russian or English.