Affinnova Awarded Broad Patent for Interactive Product Design Technology; Breakthrough technology empowers marketers to harness consumer input in the development of innovative products.WALTHAM, Mass. -- Affinnova(R), Inc., today announced the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Patent & Trademark Office has awarded the company U.S. Patent No. 7,016,882 entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: , "Method and Apparatus for Evolutionary Design." The patent covers Affinnova's proven methods of empowering marketers to innovate in·no·vate v. in·no·vat·ed, in·no·vat·ing, in·no·vates v.tr. To begin or introduce (something new) for or as if for the first time. v.intr. To begin or introduce something new. through increasing the breadth of ideas and possibilities they can explore. Affinnova's approach uniquely engages consumers in the product development process, enabling them to create and select the most compelling concepts from millions of potential combinations of product features and attributes. The patent involves an algorithmic approach for presenting and generating product ideas to consumers, typically in an electronic format. The underlying invention renders the product innovation process into a search paradigm where the goal is to identify the highest affinity choices from a large pool of competing alternatives. Scores of consumers choose from among multiple product designs, and the data is aggregated to derive a new generation of product design alternatives presented for further selection. The process is quickly repeated through multiple cycles, ultimately arriving at the product design that consumers prefer most. Given the highly competitive marketplace and the high failure rate of new products, companies benefit from this approach by having consumer preferences inform the product innovation cycle. The technology encompassed by the patent is core to Affinnova's IDEA(TM) system (Interactive Design by Evolutionary Algorithms evolutionary algorithm - (EA) An algorithm which incorporates aspects of natural selection or survival of the fittest. An evolutionary algorithm maintains a population of structures (usually randomly generated initially), that evolves according to rules of selection, recombination, ), which leading consumer packaged goods Noun 1. packaged goods - groceries that are packaged for sale foodstuff, grocery - (usually plural) consumer goods sold by a grocer plural, plural form - the form of a word that is used to denote more than one companies have used to explore and optimize market-winning products and concepts. IDEA allows hundreds or thousands of consumers to interact with holistic product and concept representations via the Internet. Their collective feedback provides the selection pressure that drives evolution towards the "fittest" products -- creating a higher likelihood of market success. "This is a major milestone for Affinnova," stated Waleed Al-Atraqchi, Affinnova's CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "This patent underscores Affinnova's continued leadership in technology-driven innovation services and systems, and our commitment to helping product and marketing teams improve the success rates of new products and the competitiveness of existing products by placing the consumer at the heart of product and brand development." "Issuance of this patent validates our team's achievement in developing Affinnova's breakthrough multi-respondent, interactive evolutionary algorithm with dynamic segmentation (Data West Research Agency definition: see GIS glossary.) A GIS function for modeling linear features in highway applications such as accident analysis and pavement management. The process has the ability to compute locations of events on linear features at run time (or dynamically) in ," stated Kamal M. Malek, Ph.D., Affinnova's Chief Technical Officer and one of the patent's inventors. "This is the first in a series of patents we expect to issue in the near term that will protect our technology platform. Breakthrough technology is one of our company's key competitive advantages, and this includes our strengths in harnessing advanced technology for practical commercial use." Malek added, "It is gratifying grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. to see our direct search and optimization approach being used every day, helping Fortune 500 companies develop better products for their consumers." About Affinnova, Inc. Affinnova harnesses the voice of consumers to help companies develop more successful brands and products. Its unique, patented technology uses genetic algorithms Genetic algorithms Search procedures based on the mechanics of natural selection and genetics. Such procedures are known also as evolution strategies, evolutionary programming, genetic programming, and evolutionary computation. to "evolve" product designs in response to consumer preferences. Affinnova's technology has been adopted by a growing list of Fortune 500 companies. Affinnova is privately held, backed by Flagship Ventures and Sherbrooke Capital, and headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts One of the early centers of the Industrial Revolution in northern America, Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 59,226 at the 2000 census. . For more information about Affinnova, visit www.affinnova.com. (C)2006 Affinnova Inc. Affinnova and IDEA are trademarks of Affinnova, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
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