TRIZ (a Russian acronym for the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) was originated by the Russian scientist and engineer Genrich Altshuller. In the early 50th, Altshuller started massive studies of patent collections. His goal was to find out if inventive solutions were the result of chaotic and unorganized thinking or there were certain regularities that governed the process of creating new inventions.
     After scanning approximately 400.000 patent descriptions, Altshuller found that only 2% of all patented solutions were really new, which means that they used some newly discovered physical phenomenon – such as the first radio receiver or photo camera. 98% of patented inventions used some already known physical or technological principle but were different in its implementation (for instance, both a car and a conveyer may use the air cushion). In addition, it appeared that a great number of inventions complied with a relatively small number of basic inventive principles. Therefore, 98% of all new problems can be solved by using previous experience - if such experience is presented in a certain form, for instance as principles or patterns. This discovery had given impact on further studies which let to discovery the basic principles of invention.
     More than thirty years of research resulted in revealing and understanding of origins of an inventive process, and formulation of general principles of inventive problem solving. At the same time, first TRIZ techniques were developed.
Later, many researchers and practitioners worldwide united efforts and largely extended Altshuller’s approach with new methods and tools. Today, a number of companies and universities worldwide are involved to enhancing TRIZ techniques and putting them to the practical use.