Sufficient conditions for inventive solutions

Engineering systems are developed through numerous modification cycles. Mos t of them arise from routine engineering processes such as optimization or by adopting new technologies. On occasion though, a system is modified thro ugh a qualitatively different process: a creative process. We call this typ e of modification a design invention. Our paper presents an objective metri c for the evaluation of the inventiveness of an engineering solution. This metric can be used not only to evaluate a known solution but also to guide the search toward new design inventions. This paper presents a formal treat ment of the sufficient conditions with illustrative examples and case studi es. An empirical study demonstrates that solutions which satisfy the condit ions tend to score high on creativity evaluation by field experts.