From Brian Oswald
Paul Marks’s article on “Eureka machines” (29 August, p 32) that can produce inventions was very interesting, but I was surprised to see no mention of the theory of inventive problem-solving, also known as TRIZ. This was originally based on analysis of Russian patent literature, deriving 40 principles allowing a problem formulated in one technical discipline to be assessed against solutions from others – often with surprisingly useful results.
Wickham, Hampshire, UK
