The challenge

Innovating in a well-established product category is one of the toughest challenges in product development—especially when the market is highly competitive, product lifecycles are short, and the team believes they have already explored every possible solution. The Philips Consumer Lifestyle team in Klagenfurt faced an innovation deadlock, struggling to develop new ideas beyond incremental improvements. The goal was to break this barrier, generate breakthrough concepts, and define a long-term product roadmap.

Our approach

• Deep user insights through experience analysis: Observed real-world product usage in Philips‘ customer testing center to uncover hidden pain points and unmet needs.
• Applied TRIZ methodology: Reframed customer problems into technical contradictions to inspire inventive solutions.
• Executed three high-intensity Open Innovation workshops: Brought together internal experts and external specialists from diverse disciplines like biology, physics, and optoelectronics.
• Created rapid ideation cycles under time constraints: Used competitive challenges and structured problem-solving to spark creative energy and engagement.
• Collaborative validation and refinement: Internal engineers and customer representatives continuously assessed and refined emerging ideas to ensure feasibility and market relevance.

The results

• Multiple breakthrough product concepts that shaped a long-term innovation roadmap for the next five to seven years.
• Over ten invention proposals with the potential for patent applications.
• Shift in mindset—despite initial skepticism, the team realized that innovation is always possible with the right approach.
• A proven framework for unlocking creativity, applicable to future innovation challenges within Philips.