Goldfire Drives Sustainable Engineering Innovation

By Margaret S. Gurney

Invention Machine Goldfire 5.0, a task-based innovation software, is designed to empower, accelerate, and sustain engineering innovation.

One of several recommendations that Mark Atkins, chairman and CEO of Invention Machine, makes in his recent BusinessWeek article, “Why It’s Time to Invest in Innovation,” is this: “Empower innovation workers to accelerate product development, eliminate risks, and sustain the innovation process.”

To this end, Invention Machine (Boston, MA) launched Goldfire 5.0, which builds upon the company’s existing innovation technology,  offers new task-based software that allows managers and users to accelerate and sustain projects, tracking enterprise-wide innovation trends and programs in real time.

“Invention Machine Goldfire makes innovation a sustainable and repeatable process, by consistently transforming ideas into cutting-edge products,” said James Todhunter, chief technology officer, Invention Machine. “Goldfire 5.0’s task-based approach empowers engineers to accelerate everyday innovation while managers can track enterprise-wide innovation trends with the click of a button.”

Market Opportunities
Goldfire is said to help transform ideas into commercial products — generating and validating concepts and making innovation a sustainable process. Designed for engineers, scientists, and researchers, it automates everyday innovation tasks — from identifying a new market to developing a new product and to improving existing product offerings — and empowering users with a repeatable process.

Goldfire provides more than a dozen critical innovation tasks and workflows so engineers can spot expected results.

The Goldfire innovation platform is designed to connect knowledge workers with specific innovation tasks and appropriate workflows. For example, if you are looking for new market opportunities for an existing technology, the software will show you what to look for and expected results then guide you through the appropriate steps — from identifying core competencies to analyzing market opportunities — so that you reach an informed decision.

Whether you plan to develop a new product, improve a system,  mitigate risk, analyze a market, or leverage intellectual property, Goldfire is designed to do just that.

A Flexible Approach
Invention Machine says Goldfire 5.0’s innovation metrics give executives and managers a snapshot of the company’s innovation landscape,  trends, and program successes as well as a detailed view of specific projects. Version 5.0’s new user interface enables users to navigate through more than adozen critical innovation tasks — from designing new products and fixing defectsto analyzing technology trends.

Invention Machine Goldfire’s new metrics capabilities give managers a snapshot of the company’s innovation landscape along with detailed views of specific projects.

Goldfire lets innovators define their own innovation tasks,  based on the level of problem they must solve, from root cause analysis and function modeling to technology evolution and trend analysis. And, by providing a flexible approach to innovation, Goldfire is said to help engineers innovate on a daily basis.

Goldfire, says Invention Machine,  stimulates creative thinking and speeds inventive problem solving — helping product development engineers, scientists, and researchers to quickly conceive and validate ideas thus fueling product pipelines. It does this by coupling innovation methods for generating ideas with advanced technologies for accessing precise concepts from corporate and worldwide knowledge sources.

Innovation methods for generating ideas along with technologies enable access to precise concepts.

An Investment in Innovation
“Companies are under tremendous pressure to deliver market-leading products quickly and cost effectively,” adds Todhunter. “With Goldfire 5.0’s task-based innovation approach, companies can easily operationalize everyday innovation and deliver the right products the first time,  consistently.”

The company indicates that the price of Goldfire 5.0 varies by project and breadth of implementation. However a typical entry-level configuration of Invention Machine Goldfire starts at about $100K.

Invention Machine updated and extended Goldfire courseware —  based on customer feedback — to reflect the innovation tasks in release 5.0. All new and existing e-learning courses are being offered to users on active maintenance at no charge. Furthermore, Goldfire users will get free and unlimited access to online computer-based training courses, including the new courseware for Goldfire 5.0.

For additional information, please visit Invention Machine.

Read why DE’s editors chose Goldfire 5.0 as a Pick of the Week.

“Why It’s Time to Invest in Innovation,” Mark Atkins’  article in BusinessWeek (Jan. 26, 2009).

Request a demo of Goldfire 5.0.

Read case studies of customers and companies.

Select from a variety of YouTube videos about Invention Machine.

Check out Invention Machine Goldfire 5.0 in detail.

Interested users can download Goldfire 5.0’s overview (datasheet pdf).

Read sustainable innovation discussions.

Margaret S. Gurney is new products editor at Desktop Engineering magazine.