Our Mission
To change the world through systems that enable everyone to think smarter, faster & more innovatively.
Our History:
In 1986 Doug Hall founded the Eureka! Ranch – a corporate professional inventing company. Since its inception, the ranch has been applying innovative thinking, systems and tools with some of the world’s most progressive companies under intense pressure – overcoming the most difficult innovation challenges to create new solutions. And it worked, again and again. The average US home has 18 products the Ranch had a hand in creating.
Out of those real world situations working with over 6,000 teams we learned quickly what works and what doesn’t work to enable people to create ideas and make them happen. Some things are simple. Many things are counter-intuitive. Most things are both technical and psychological.
In the early 2000’s, Doug and current CEO, Maggie Nichols, were reflecting on the company’s success. They clearly had a method that worked and had a choice to make. Keep it a trade secret and use it as the “secret sauce” that makes Eureka! special. Or share it with the world so everyone could be enabled to effectively create great ideas to overcome real problems. Admitted idealists, the choice was obvious and Innovation Engineering was born.
In 2006, through a joint-venture partnership with the University of Maine, the Innovation Engineering Institute was formed. It is the certifying body for academic and professional courses. Today, the Eureka! Ranch serves as both the inventor of Innovation Engineering and partner to companies leveraging it.
In the 90s, before “innovation” was the buzz word, we were working with corporate teams to apply innovative thinking & tools to critical business challenges.
Our Core Beliefs
Meaningfully Unique Matters Most.
Whether it’s figuring out the idea with the best returns, the idea that will drive passion, the kind of work that motivates people to go all in. All answers lead back to meaningfully unique.
Every single person can be innovative.
If you’re willing, you can learn how.
More cycles = better.
If you want to go faster, get smarter, get energy, do more, reduce risk, eliminate waste, work more efficiently – the answers is do more cycles of learning. Some call it Plan, Do, Study, Act. Some call it the Scientific Method. Some call it Fail Fast. Fail Cheap. Get Smart.® (Yes, that’s our ®.)
Our Leadership & Key Development Team
While our key leadership and development team is small, our community is large – and they are the energy source, sounding board and inspiration for the future direction and development work to support this movement. With nearly 100 people from across industries and the world serving on our Jump Start Your Brain Advisory Board, we work to constantly be relevant for meeting the demands of today’s fast paced world and pioneering the future of innovation, one person at a time.
Brad Hall
Education Brand Manager, Innovation Engineering Institute
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Masters, Educational Administration
Corie Spailek
VP of Operations, Innovation Engineering Institute
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Doug Hall
Founder & Chairman - Innovation Engineering Institute, Eureka! Ranch. CEO - Brain Brew Custom Whisk(e)y
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Honorary Doctorate, University of Maine
Dougie Potter
Founding Partner, Eureka! Europe
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Greg Lemmon
Lead Statistician, Innovation Engineering Institute
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Helen Potter
Founding Parnter, Eureka! Europe
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Joe Girgash
Trained Brain
Food & Beverage Development, Food Service Operations expert
John Ferris
President - Innovation Engineering Network Canada. CEO - InVision Edge
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Lydia Carson
VP of Innovation Engineering Systems, Innovation Engineering Institute & Eureka! Ranch
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Six Sigma Black Belt
Masters, Business Administration
Maggie Nichols
CEO & President - Innovation Engineering Institute & Eureka! Ranch - INNOVATION ENGINEERING BLACK BELT
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Maggie Pfeifer
VP of Education, Innovation Engineering Institute
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Philip Kurtz
Trained Brain
Chef, Operations Expert
Philip Pozzo di Borgo - Oliver
Founding Partner, Eureka! Europe
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Renee Kelly
Director, Innovation Engineering institute & University of Maine Foster Center for Student Innovation
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Masters, Interdisciplinary Studies
Scott Dunkle
VP of Technology, Innovation Engineering Institute
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
Never-Ending Continuous R&D
on the Creative Art & Applied Science
of Innovative Thinking
(Yes, we know that’s redundant, but that’s how much we mean it!)
We’ve “innovated on innovation” since our inception, spending over $25M in R&D.
Nothing we teach is theory. Every skill and tool has been applied to live challenges for Fortune 500 companies.
Recent Innovation R&D Accomplishments
We believe that any good innovation firm should be able to answer the question, “What innovations have you shipped in your own industry? How are you different than you were 3 years ago?” Below are a list of innovations, breakthroughs and original R&D we’ve pioneered in the field of innovation.
NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD
The demand for a smarter and faster innovation system is so great that Innovation Engineering has taken off. Here are the numbers:
- Innovations worth $19 billion in net marketplace value in active development.
- Over 35,000 trained
- Over 50 Innovation Engineering Network partners – colleges, universities and consultancies.
- Thought leading companies that have contributed data and insights to the movement include: Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Toyota Manufacturing, Nestle, Walt Disney, Nike, American Express, Ford Motor Company, and thousands of others.
THE WORLD'S FIRST VALIDATED METRICS SYSTEM FOR INNOVATION
Modeling innovation metrics can be tricky because there are so many unknowns. Innovation Engineering metrics actually incorporate that variation to create models so predictive Jim Filliben of the National Institute of Standards and Technology presented a paper validating the approach.
INVENTED & VALIDATED A SYSTEM THAT IS 500% MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BRAINSTORMING
The Stimulus Response® method makes it easy for anyone to create innovative solutions to their daily challenges and business problems.
INVENTED & VALIDATED AN IDEA DECISION SYSTEM THAT IS 7X SMARTER THAN HUMANS
Merwyn Rapid Research® research provides data grounded principles for improving odds of success plus a quantitative assessment that tells you the true odds of success.
THE WORLD'S FIRST 5 YEAR FINANCIAL FORECAST FOR INNOVATION
Using a blend of Fourt Woodlock & Bass Diffusion models, the 5 Year Life Cycle model can predict sales over 5 years & the impact of diffusion on word-of-mouth.
VALIDATED - INCREASED INNOVATION SPEED (UP TO 6X) AND DECREASED RISK (UP TO 10X SUCCESS)
Step change improvement in innovation metrics is a result of transitioning from a “guru” model for innovation to enabling innovation by everyone through applying System Driven Innovation® principles of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.
THE WORLD'S FIRST APPLICATION OF "PLAN, DO, STUDY, ACT" INTO INNOVATION PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Deming’s Plan, Do, Study, Act method for never-ending improvement goes beyond principle. The Innovation Engineering Labs Project Management tool makes “PDSA” a built in part of the work process, ensuring that learning & documentation are natural parts of every innovation project.
INVENTED & VALIDATED A TEACHING SYSTEM THAT IS 200 TO 400% MORE EFFECTIVE WITH ADULTS
VALIDATED AS "BREAKOUT INNOVATION SYSTEM” BY STANFORD
TRANSFORMED INNOVATION FROM A RANDOM GAMBLE TO A RELIABLE SYSTEM
THE FIRST COMPLETE SYSTEM THAT DRIVES A 72% INCREASE IN NET INNOVATION VALUE
Our Books & Publishing
DRIVING EUREKA!
Problem-Solving with Data-Driven Methods and the Innovation Engineering System
Best-selling business author Doug Hall presents the System Driven Innovation scientific method for enabling innovation by everyone, everywhere, every day. It’s the essential resource you need to enable yourself―and your team―to innovate, succeed, and do amazing things that matter, on a daily basis.
We hope you will support the Indie Booksellers!
We understand Amazon can be fast and easy.
One-Hour Abridged Audio
Driving Eureka! Podcast
After spending years hosting Brain Brew, a national radio show on public radio for innovators and entrepreneurs, Doug Hall has returned to share news, hope and wisdom on doing and leading innovation.
Books
JUMP START YOUR BRAIN
A Proven Method For Increasing Creativity 500%
Jump Start Your Brain is a fun, inspiring and insightful how-to look at maximizing your brain’s power and putting productive creativity to work for you.
“Required reading. Hall reveals how you can retrain your brain to think of more creative ideas. The book is funny and packed with anecdotes.” – Entrepreneur Magazine
JUMP START YOUR MARKETING BRAIN
Truths, Tactics & Techniques For Measurable Success
This book is a DEEP DIVE into the complex world of sales and marketing. It’s for those with a genuine commitment to measurably improving their success rate.
It was originally published in hardcover as Meaningful Marketing. The book won critical acclaim but its “academic style” prevented it from reaching the mass audience of Jump Start Your Business Brain. A comprehensive redesign and rewrite has added caffeinated energy as well as even more meaningful advice and ideas for improving your sales and marketing success rates.
JUMP START YOUR BUSINESS BRAIN
Win More – Lose Less & Make More Money with Your Sales, Marketing & Innovation Efforts
Jump Start Your Business Brain details six principles for measurably improving your marketing and innovation success rates.These principles are the core religion that Doug and his Eureka! Team leverage when working with the big guys-companies like Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay and Bank of America.
However, the little guys and non-profits can leverage them as well. In fact, the book cites real cases of small business owners who’ve realized a 10 to 50% increase in sales as a result of applying the six principles.
MAKING THE COURAGE CONNECTION
How People Get from Fear to Freedom – and How You can Too
Making the Courage Connection is a look at courage, through an inspiring blend of essays and real-life profiles of people with the gumption to live their lives to the fullest.
“It takes courage to live in our world today. Making the Courage Connection tells, in an interesting and dramatic way, how one can make life worth living by taking control.” – Ruth Stafford Peale, widow of Norman Vincent Peale, Author The Power Of Positive Thinking