Structured problem-solving techniques to stimulate innovation in new product development in UK SMEs

'Innovation' is an often used, yet much misunderstood term. Often innovation is left to chance or, at best, approached by relatively unstructured hard work and hard thinking. This paper describes a research programme known as the 'Futures Project', which provides a 'virtual' body of expertise that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can access when increased innovation activity is required. By exposing SMEs to techniques for the generation of new and potentially innovative ideas, and for developing the right ideas at the right time, new techniques and improved versions of old techniques can be tested in a non-threatening environment