[Reader-list] Innovation Tournament : Wipro-Knowledge@ Wharton Innovation Tournament

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

Overview
Wipro Technologies and Knowledge at Wharton have teamed up to conduct a 
global "Innovation Tournament" which will solicit, judge and select the 
most innovative managerial "tools" that companies can use to improve 
their business by increasing revenues, reducing expenditures and 
improving customer experience.

Based on the newly released book, Innovation Tournaments, by Wharton 
professors Karl Ulrich and Christian Terwiesch, this tournament is 
designed to identify innovative managerial tools that organizations can 
use to increase efficiencies, cut costs and/or streamline operations. 
(For the purpose of this contest, a "tool" is defined as a method, 
approach, template, process or software.) The tournament is open to all 
individuals and/or groups from around the world who wish to submit a 
tool for consideration.

The Innovation Tournament is structured in three phases as follows:


Phase I:
Participants will submit tools via this website in one of the following 
formats: Word document, PowerPoint presentation, PDF file or Excel 
spreadsheet. These submissions will be reviewed and judged by a panel 
of experts determined by the Wharton School and including key members 
of the Wharton faculty, the Knowledge at Wharton team and the Wipro 
Council for Industry Research. From these submissions, 25 leading tools 
will be chosen based on the judging criteria. All entries must be 
received by November 6, 2009, in order to be considered.


Phase II:
A live, online webinar event will be hosted by Wipro Technologies and 
Knowledge at Wharton, during which the 25 leading tools will be presented 
with two minutes allotted to each. From these 25 presentations, the top 
10 finalists will be selected and those individuals/groups will advance 
to the final phase of the tournament.

Additionally, following the webinar, these top 10 finalists will be 
assigned a "mentor" who will provide two hours or more of advice and 
consultation (via e-mail, by telephone or in person) to help the 
finalists refine their idea for presentation at a live event at 
Wharton, on the University of Pennsylvania's campus.


Phase III:
A presentation by each finalist will take place at a live event at the 
University of Pennsylvania, during which the Innovation Tournament 
winners will be selected by a panel of judges. The judges will 
determine, using a neutral balloting format, the top three 
presentations/tools, and those finalists will receive prizes. Finalists 
must be present in Philadelphia for this event to be considered for the 
top awards.

Additionally, finalists will be interviewed for a podcast about their 
tool, and these podcasts will be made available on the 
Knowledge at Wharton and Wipro Technologies' websites. (Knowledge at Wharton 
will own the rights to these audio recordings.)

Questions? Email us at knowledge at wharton.upenn.edu with "Innovation 
Tournament" in the subject line.

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Process and Entry Format
The challenge for the Innovation Tournament contestants is as follows:

Create or identify a managerial tool that can be used by companies to 
increase revenues, reduce expenditures and improve customer experience.
The tool may consist of a particular method, approach, template, 
process and/or software.
The tool must be freely available or implemented via commonly 
available, general-purpose software (for example, Excel). Submissions 
of proprietary tools, or tools available only for a fee, will not be 
considered.
The tool should be applicable to a wide variety of businesses, as 
opposed to applied only to a narrow sector.
The tool should be articulated in the form of the file formats 
previously noted (Word document, PowerPoint presentation, PDF file or 
Excel spreadsheet) and have fewer than 10 pages (preferably fewer than 
five pages) and submitted in English. This description may include 
hyperlinks to web resources.
Full credit and substantial recognition will be given to the 
originating party for the tools that win the tournament.

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Tool Categories
Tools for the Innovation Tournament should apply to a wide variety of 
areas which could increase revenue, decrease costs or improve the 
customer experience across an organization. Some suggested topic areas 
for consideration by entrants could apply to the following subject 
categories:

Supply Chain Optimization
Customer Experience
Social Computing
Sustainable IT (Green IT)
Cloud Computing
Information Management & Business Analytics
Unified Communications
Compliance and Risk Management
These categories are offered as broad suggestions which could apply 
universally to many organizations and/or their clients and are 
strategic initiatives that many organizations are focusing on in this 
business climate.


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Rules and Regulations

Eligibility
The tournament is open to all individuals and/or groups from around the 
world who wish to enter. Employees or consultants of Wipro Technologies 
and their families and faculty and staff of the Wharton School or 
Knowledge at Wharton are not eligible to enter.

Students at the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School are 
eligible to enter. All entries must be the original work of the 
tournament participant(s).

All entries must be received by November 6, 2009, in order to be 
considered. All entries must include contact information (email and 
phone number) for the individual and/or groups entering the tournament.


Acceptable Entries
All entries must be presented in the following file formats: Word 
document, PowerPoint presentation, PDF file or Excel spreadsheet. 
Entries cannot be more than 10 pages and preferably fewer than five 
pages. The entries may include supporting information such as 
hyperlinks, web resources and other visuals that help to articulate the 
concept of that particular tool.

Tools may include but are not limited to ideas, methods, approaches, 
templates and/or software that help organizations increase operational 
effectiveness by reducing costs, streamlining operations, eliminating 
operational inefficiencies or deploying resources in a new way.

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Confidentiality
All reasonable efforts will be made to ensure a level of 
confidentiality of ideas presented in the early phases of the 
Innovation Tournament. However, as this program progresses and 
semi-finalists begin to present their ideas, neither Wipro nor 
Knowledge at Wharton can guarantee any degree of confidentiality. 
Additionally, finalists will be asked to agree to be interviewed for 
publicity and editorial coverage purposes on Knowledge at Wharton and, in 
doing so, will be speaking about their ideas to a general audience.

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Judges and Mentors
Judges for the Innovation Tournament will be selected from The 
University of Pennsylvania community, Wharton School faculty and 
Knowledge at Wharton staff. As a sponsoring company, only employees of 
Wipro Council for Industry Research will be eligible to judge. Their 
agencies and family members will not be judges for this event.

Questions? Email us at knowledge at wharton.upenn.edu with "Innovation 
Tournament" in the subject line.