Resources are the raw material of innovation: the resources within or nearby a system are what innovators use to create close-to-ideal solutions.

Most people are used to thinking of resources as money, facilities, people and equipment, i.e., that with which we conduct operations and generate profits.

So, what does Innovation Rainmakers® mean by “resources”?

In the world of Structured Innovation, we drill down to a whole new level of resource identification, as you will see in the diagrams to the right.

Resources can be virtually anything, or even the absence of things. A short list would include: functions, fields (i.e., energy), motivators (e.g., money, leadership, etc.) information, ideas, substances, space, time, technology.