REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION LEVEL 4

1. General 

1.1. Level 4 Business TRIZ Specialist Certificate, issued by the International Business TRIZ Association (IBTA), confirms that the holder is a high level TRIZ specialist, who possesses profound knowledge of Business TRIZ and advanced skills in using Business TRIZ tools in compliance with IBTA requirements.

1.2. The main goals of introducing the Level 4 Business TRIZ Specialist Certification are:

• Official recognition of high qualification of certified Business TRIZ specialists and confirmation that as of the date of certification Level 4 Business TRIZ Specialists have acquired profound knowledge of Business TRIZ and possess required skills for practical use of Business TRIZ tools in compliance with IBTA requirements;
• Ensuring open access to the information about certified specialists capable of solving real life problems with the use of Business TRIZ tools and/or conducting methodological developments in Business TRIZ and/or carrying out effective training activities in Business TRIZ.

2. Requirements

2.1. Candidates for Level 4 Business TRIZ Certificate must have:

• Level 3 Business TRIZ Certificate from IBTA. At least 1 year must pass from the moment of the Level 3 certificate issuance to the application for Level 4; 
• Experience of practical activity (which can be confirmed by implementation of obtained solutions);
• Experience of conducting training workshops on Business TRIZ if any.

2.2. To pass Level 4 Business TRIZ Specialist Certification, the candidates must prepare and defend a qualification work at an open session of the Certification Committee - either in person or online. Presentation can be made in English or Russian. 

Note. Qualification work can be prepared by a candidate under supervision of an experienced Business TRIZ specialist, who is at least a Level 4 Business TRIZ Specialist.

2.3. To initiate the process of Business TRIZ Level 4 Specialist Certification, a candidate should send a set of documents in electronic form to IBTA addressed to IBTA President either in Russian or English. The set of documents should include:

• A letter addressed to IBTA Chairman requesting Level 4 BusinessTRIZ Specialist Certification
• Personal information (in the Resume or CV format);
• Contact information;
• Recent photograph;
• The number of Level 3 Business TRIZ Certificate;
• Qualification work and available reviews.

In addition if any:

• Information on papers and reports presented at TRIZ conferences plus information about other kinds of activities associated with TRIZ;
• Information on candidate’s research and developments works on Business TRIZ (preferable);
• Information on training workshops held by the candidate and number of trained Business TRIZ specialists (preferable);

2.4. Qualification work of a candidate for the Level 4 TRIZ Specialist Certification should include:

• Brief summary of a project (not exceeding 1,000 characters); 
• A report on a project (qualification work);
• Presentation materials for the report on a project.
  
  Note. Valid file formats are specified. The recommended format is pdf.

2.5. Project report should written in Russian or English and should include:

• Description of a siuation. This description should be sufficient to provide an insight into the subject and to enable the analysis of obtained solutions.
• Brief background for the problem in question and earlier attempts to solve this problem.
• Project goals and constraints.
• Description of the analytical stage of the project - detailed description of application of several most efficient analytical procedures (from author's standpoint).
• List of problems resulting from the analytical stage.
• Description of methodological tools and techniques used for solving identified problems - detailed descriptions of solving of at least two most illustrative problems (from author's standpoint) with explanations on the issue of TRIZ tool selection.
• Verification of feasibility of obtained solutions by references to at least by an offical statement of implementation or by a letter of opinions of qualified experts.
  
  Note: a candidate must be a full participant in a project - "general leadership", "supervision", "participation in discussions" and the like are not considered to be full participation in work on a project.

2.6. All materials submitted to IBTA should not contain any confidential data and it should be possible to publish them in open sources of information. IBTA is not responsible for the disclosure of confidential information, if such information is included in submitted materials by a candidate.

3. Level 4 certification procedure organization

3.1. The Chairman of CC Committee on TRIZ Level 4 Specialist Certification (CC)

• Collects and assigns the Commitee members.
• Communicates with a candidate.
• Sends candidate’s package of documents to all CC members.
• Establishes date of examination of his/her qualification work.
• Organizes and conducts CC4 sessions in person or via teleconference.
• Conducts discussion of candidate's work with CC members, compiles list of questions regarding submitted work and informs CC members regarding answers to questions and amendments received form the candidate.
• Organizes voting. 

3.2. Certification is successful when a candidtate gains simple majority of votes.

3.3. In the case of negative decision taken by CC, drafts and mails (within 14 days) CC conclusion with indication of specific reasons, due to which his/her qualification work was rejected.

3.4. A candidate, who failed to defend his/her qualification work, has the right to make next attempt no earlier than in three months. In this case, he/she should submit qualification work for consideration with corrections of those issues, which were indicated in CC decision after previous defense.

3.5. In the case of failure to defend a qualification work for the second time, the next attempt can be made no earlier than after 12 months. In this case, a candidate must prepare a new qualification work (or new project, or another lecture).

4. Awarding Level 4 Business TRIZ Specialist Certificate and issuance of certificates

4.1. Based on approved positive decision of the Certification Committee, IBTA President awards Level 4 Business TRIZ Specialist qualification.

4.2. Candidates, who successfully defended their qualification works, pay for the certification according to the approved rates.

4.3. IBTA President:

• Issues and mails the Certificate, signed by IBTA President and the Chairman of CC to the candidate within 14 days after confirmation of the payment.
• Posts the following information about conducted certification on IBTA website.