12. Choose the right word.

1. A set of innovation management tools (to push, to allow, to access) managers and engineers to cooperate with a common understanding of goals and processes.

2. Innovation processes can be (to get, to put, to pull) through development.

3. To succeed with both pulling and pushing methods, an understanding of both the market and the technical problems is (to recommend, to develop, to need).

4. The lifetime or product lifecycle of new products is steadily (to keep, to get, to stay) shorter.

5. Innovation managers must (to increase, to keep, to decrease) development time.

Reading

13. Read this text quickly and define the main idea of this text. After you read, divide the text into some meaningful parts and try to give them the headings.

Innovation management

Innovation management is the discipline of managing processes in research and development (R&D) and innovation. It can be used to develop both product and organizational innovation. Without proper processes, it is not possible for R&D to be efficient; innovation management includes a set of tools that allow managers and engineers to cooperate with a common understanding of goals and processes. The focus of innovation management is to allow the organization to response to external or internal opportunity, and use its creative efforts to introduce new ideas, processes or products.

Innovation processes can either be pushed or pulled through development. A pushed process is based on existing or newly invented technology, that the organization has access to, and tries to find profitable applications to use this technology. A pulled process tries to find areas where customers` needs are not met, and then focus development efforts to find solutions to those needs. To succeed with either method, an understanding of both the market and the technical problems is needed. By creating multi-functional development teams, containing both engineers and marketers, both dimensions can be solved. The lifetime or product lifecycle of new products is steadily getting shorter; increased competition therefore forces companies reduce the time to market. Innovation managers must therefore decrease development time, without sacrificing quality or meeting the needs of the market.

Common tools include brainstorming, virtual prototyping, product lifecycle management, idea management, TRIZ, stage-gate process, project management, product line planning and portfolio management.

14. Find in the text the words or word combinations which have an opposite meaning:

stagnation, incorrect process, to forbid, procured technology, customers` caprice, to have problems, to increase the time.

15. Revise the terminology of the text:

процесс управления, технологический срок службы, НИОКР, творческие уси­лия, нужды потребителей, конструкторские разработки, маркетолог, менеджер по внедрению новых проектов, принятие решений, возросшая конкуренция, жизненный цикл товара, новые технические решения, группа разработки, управление инновациями.