Take the ‘essence’ of one product and transfer it to another.
Example: “…the researchers at Funai Electric and Matsushita identified the essence behind the popularity of electric rice cookers – the convenience and speed of preparing food in a small home appliance – and then applied the same idea to the development of an automatic bread-baking appliance.”
Example: The ‘capsule hotel’, the idea for which originally came from Pullman sleeping compartments on trains.
Source: Tatsuno, S. (1990). Created in Japan: from imitators to world-class innovators.