The International TRIZ Association (MATRIZ) is the leading global organization bringing together professional practitioners, developers, and educators of TRIZ from around the world. It was established in 1997 by the creator of TRIZ, Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller, and it is dedicated to the development, application, and promotion of TRIZ.
MATRIZ is an association of member organizations that have united to collaboratively promote the global dissemination of TRIZ knowledge across various industries, thus preserving the legacy of G. S. Altshuller. Its goals include the development of TRIZ and related theories, technologies, methods, and tools, as well as supporting the enhancement of creative and critical thinking skills in accordance with TRIZ principles.
ACTIVITY 2
MATRIZ plays a pivotal role in a creating and maintaining the global TRIZ community through multifaceted activities. It offers comprehensive certification programs that ensure practitioners meet standards of TRIZ knowledge and application.
The annual international conference TRIZFest organized by the Association serves as a vibrant forum for exchange of ideas, showcasing the latest advancements in TRIZ research and their practical applications. MATRIZ also supports associated organizations as well as patronizes local TRIZ conferences and events. It fosters a collaborative environment through publishing educational materials, articles, case studies, and methodological databases.
FOUNDER 3
Genrikh Altshuller was born on October 15, 1926, in Tashkent. His parents, originally from Baku, returned there when he was five. Altshuller lived in Baku until 1990, when he moved to Petrozavodsk, where he resided until his death. Early on, he discovered libraries and developed a passion for reading, particularly science fiction. Dreaming of becoming a sailor, he attended a Special Naval School after the 8th grade.
With the onset of World War II, students were sent to the front lines, but Altshuller, being younger, stayed in Baku and continued his education. He received his first Author’s Certificate for a water-diving apparatus operating on hydrogen peroxide while still in the 10th grade. After graduation, he joined a rifle regiment and was later sent to a flying school. By the time he finished, World War II had ended.
Altshuller requested a position with the naval flotilla in Baku, where he began working at the Patent Department. He continued inventing and teaching others to invent, realizing the need for a systematic inventive methodology. Unlike psychologists who studied inventors, Altshuller focused on the inventions themselves. He searched for distinctive features that separated strong inventions from weak ones, using contradictions as the cornerstone of his method. By analysing Author’s Certificates and patents, he identified standard approaches to resolving engineering contradictions. In 1948, he achieved his first results.
Together with his friend R. Shapiro, he wrote a detailed, 30-page letter to Stalin about the poor state of inventive activity in the country, proposing a new methodology. The letter led to their arrest and torture. Altshuller was sentenced to 25 years in Vorkuta, but was rehabilitated in 1954. Earlier, in 1953, after her pardon petition was denied, Altshuller’s mother committed suicide. His father had passed away earlier.
In 1956, his first article was published in the Journal Psychology Issues. It argued that engineering evolves according to objective trends and that inventive problems involve identifying and resolving contradictions.
Altshuller held various jobs post-rehabilitation, including at a steel-wire cable facility, a newspaper, and the Construction Ministry of Azerbaijan. He graduated from university and eventually made a living as a science fiction writer under the pseudonym Genrikh Altov. His works were translated into multiple languages and included in science fiction encyclopedias. He also authored several dozen inventions, including a notable pressure suit for rescue teams.
Gradually, Altshuller devoted himself entirely to TRIZ. From 1958 to 1967, he corresponded with the Central Council of the All-Union Society of Inventors and Innovators. He was asking only for an opportunity to tell people about his methodology, but he received one refusal after another during all these 10 years. In 1970, the Council established the Public Laboratory of Inventive Methodology, and in 1971, the Azerbaijan Public Institute for Inventivness (AzOIIT), the USSR’s first school of its kind.
Altshuller put a lot of effort to the organization of scientific research work. Employees of the Laboratory have been working by a relay-race principle. Those who could not keep the pace quit, leaving the research results to those who continued working. Altshuller managed to organize an effective creative team of theory developers. Schools, in which people were taught TRIZ, started emerging in many USSR cities.
In 1974, the Central Council closed the Public Laboratory due to Altshuller’s defiance in continuing to establish TRIZ schools. This led him and like-minded teachers to leave AzOIIT. Altshuller then focused on forming a TRIZ society, gaining international recognition in the 1990s. TRIZ became widely known abroad, particularly in the most developed countries, supported by the publication of Altshuller’s books and the development of Invention Machine software for PCs.
Altshuller’s literary legacy is vast. His books were translated into many languages and the researchers have begun integrating TRIZ into educational practices and other fields.
The International TRIZ Association (MATRIZ) was established in 1997. The organization is the legal successor to the TRIZ Association. From the very beginning of his activity, Altshuller strived to create an official organization to promote TRIZ and integrate the community. This was not easy in the Soviet Union of the late 1950s and 1960s. It took a considerable amount of time before the first formally registered association could be created.
1970
Early attempts at community integration
After more than a decade of efforts, in 1970, Altshuller managed to establish the Public Laboratory for Invention Methodology (Общественная Лаборатория Методики Изобретательства, OLMI) in Baku, followed by the Azerbaijan Public Institute for Inventivness (Азербайджанский Общественный Институт Изобретательского Творчества, AzOIIT) a year later. These became the first official TRIZ schools.
Soon, more schools began to sprout across the country – in Leningrad, Petrozavodsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Gorky, Volgograd, Chelyabinsk, Kishinev, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Minsk, or Obninsk. This uncontrolled growth did not sit well with the authorities. In 1974, OLMI was shut down, leading Altshuller to also leave AzOIIT. Other teachers followed suit.
Despite these setbacks, Altshuller and his associates persisted in uniting the TRIZ community. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, regular seminars and conferences were held. These gatherings not only significantly accelerated the development of the methodology but also laid the groundwork for the global TRIZ community. By the late 1980s, the foundations of the TRIZ organization were already in place, comprising specialists, schools, research laboratories, and information centers. Initially, these were located in Moscow, and then they spread across the country, reaching as far as Chelyabinsk and beyond. The need to coordinate this system’s activities became inevitable. In April 1988, Altshuller published a list of TRIZ consultants, and a year later, he founded the first official organization.
1989
Establishing the first national organization
In 1989, a regular TRIZ conference was held in Petrozavodsk, attended by 139 representatives from 50 cities across the USSR and Turku, Finland. This event evolved into the founding assembly of the TRIZ Association (Всесоюзная Ассоциация ТРИЗ) based in Novosibirsk. A governing board was elected, with Altshuller appointed as its President.
In 1991, the Association’s headquarters moved from Novosibirsk to Petrozavodsk and was officially registered as a legal entity in the Republic of Karelia. During its active years, the TRIZ Association organized four conferences and four congresses in Petrozavodsk with Altshuller’s participation (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997). They conducted training seminars, regularly distributed informational bulletins, launched a certification system, and began building a knowledge base, among other initiatives.
From the early 1990s, TRIZ began to expand internationally, gaining popularity worldwide. In 1992, the Association started working towards establishing the International TRIZ Association. Adjusting the statutes and registration procedures to meet international requirements was a process that would take several more years.
1992
About founding ofthe International TRIZ Association on the basis of TRIZ Association.
Since 1992 TRIZAssociation has been working on the establishment of theInternational TRIZ Association. November 17-19, 1992, a meeting ofthe Board of TRIZ Association took place in Petrozavodsk. It wasdecided: “To charge Kurashova T.L. with the job of registering TRIZAssociation as an international organization as quickly as possible.For this purpose she should request all necessary materials fromabroad”. Taking this decision into consideration, beginning fromthe year 1992 two notations of the organization have been used inTRIZ magazine simultaneously: “TRIZ Association” and“International TRIZ Association”.
1997
Establishment of International TRIZ Association
From July 6–9, 1997, the founding congress of the International TRIZ Association (MATRIZ) took place in Petrozavodsk. The association was established by 19 public TRIZ organizations from eight countries, including the USA, France, Latvia, and Estonia, which sent over 120 delegates to the congress.
The registration process took another two years and was completed on September 16, 1999.
The TRIZ Association and MATRIZ operated concurrently until Altshuller’s death in September 1998, with Altshuller serving as President of both organizations. In 1999, a general agreement was signed to continue the activities of both the TRIZ Association and MATRIZ. Under this agreement, all intellectual and other properties of the TRIZ Association were transferred to MATRIZ.
