About the Eureka! Ranch

The Eureka! Ranch was founded 27 years ago by Doug Hall with a simple purpose: To develop the world’s most reliable methods for increasing innovation speed and decreasing risk.  

Doug’s a Chemical Engineer by education, but rose to the rank of Master Marketing Inventor at P&G by inventing and shipping nine innovations in twelve months. He did this by applying the systemic mindset of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, father of the Total Quality Movement, to marketing and innovation. Deming was a driving force in the rebirth of Japan after WWII.

The Eureka! Ranch is legendary for its singular focus on creating big ideas that are "meaningfully unique" to customers, companies and those working on them. The Ranch leadership team believes in innovation so much that it invests 20% of revenue into quantitative R&D focused on more effective innovation methods. 

In 2005, the University of Maine and the Eureka! Ranch created the new field of study known as Innovation Engineering. The program takes the Ranch’s innovation research to a higher level of scientific reliability for companies, colleges, universities and governments. It is a multi-disciplinary field blending engineering discipline, business strategy and the psychology of change. It is comprised of 48 fundamental skills that, when mastered, allow one to most effectively create, communicate, and commercialize  meaningfully unique ideas.

The Eureka! Ranch itself is a custom built facility on 80 acres just east of Cincinnati. Attending an event at the Ranch is a mind altering experience that no one ever forgets. That said, when teams can't come to the ranch - the ranch goes to them at locations all around the globe.

Many world class innovators, including Procter & Gamble, Nike, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, and American Express, have been so satisfied that they’ve hired the Ranch over a half dozen times. 

What Makes us Different?

1. Total System from Create to Market: Innovation Engineering features a Deming/6-Sigma like focus on the total system.  It features a set of structures, processes and tools that enable employee driven innovation.  The “system boundaries” range from Creating ideas (new or improved ones) to Communication and Commercialization.
     
2. Data Driven Continuous Improvement: No other company on the planet invests as much R&D on Innovation (in time, money and resources) as Eureka!  Innovation Engineering methods are factually based on analysis of drivers of success and failure of over 26,000 innovations and  6,000 innovation teams.  Importantly,  data from your company drives continuous improvement and customization of the Innovation Engineering process for your unique culture.  
    
3. Practical and Proven Tools: Innovation Engineering tools have been validated during the past 30 years in front line projects with over 7,000 business leaders from companies large and small - business to business, consumer and industrial companies - for profit and non profit companies.  In fact, a P&G Study reported that in matched tests, our systems required just 16% of the time and 10% of the cost and staffing versus their classic development approach. 
   
   
4. An insistence on Meaningful Uniqueness:  Meaningfully unique ideas sell for a premium, create a virtual monopoly and are often patentable.  Our relentless push for meaningful uniqueness means you get not just a competitive advantage, you get one that’s ownable.
    
5. An Entrepreneurial Approach that Empowers Individuals and Collaboration:  Many clients mention this as their favorite part of what we do, because it frees people to do some really great work and think in a very dynamic, wholeistic way - balancing the constant tug of war between what we can promise, what we can deliver, what it will cost and what the customer wants.