Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI) to launch new Analytics Accelerator Challenge on Sept 5th, guided by Wharton Professors and WCAI Faculty Co-Directors, Eric Bradlow and Raghuram Iyengar and WCAI Executive Director, Colleen O’Neill.
PHILADELPHIA – August 22, 2017–The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI), of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will launch its new Analytics Accelerator Challenge on September 5, 2017, accepting applications through September 25. Responding to high demand for data-driven decision-making in industry, combined with an overwhelming student demand for experiential learning opportunities in data and analytics across the University, the WCAI Analytics Accelerator Challenge will pair selected company applicants with student teams to tackle real world analytics problems that the companies face.
Guided by Marketing Professors and WCAI Faculty Co-Directors, Eric Bradlow and Raghuram Iyengar, the carefully assembled teams of Penn students will work approximately 100 hours on a company-specific marketing analytics problem and develop a customized solution, which they’ll present in person on November 17th. “A company that thoughtfully embeds data and analytics into their marketing strategy can leverage those assets toward powerful predictions, regardless of business context, budget size, industry, or sector,” says Professor Iyengar.
Whether a company has data to analyze, is in need of a road map to begin, or somewhere in between, WCAI encourages them to apply to the Accelerator Challenge. While companies from all sectors of business are welcome to apply, startups and nonprofits are especially encouraged, as long as they have a designated point person who is able to commit 10 hours per week for four weeks. WCAI will accept up to three winners to participate in the engagements.
Winning organizations will walk away with practical, transformative deliverables in the form of a strategic plan, actual code, data files, or something else more custom-made based on the company’s specific needs. Students will gain exposure to real-world data and analytics problems facing companies.
The deadline for companies to apply is Monday, September 25th, and student teams will be assembled and matched with a company by mid-October. The Challenge will culminate with an Analytics Summit on November 17th at the Pennovation Center, where WCAI will offer training, networking, and professional development opportunities for all companies who apply to the challenge.
Interested companies can attend a live webinar on September 5th and September 11th at 12pm EST, where WCAI will describe the challenge and process in further detail and answer questions. To register for a webinar, or to learn more about the Analytics Accelerator Challenge, visit http://wcai.wharton.upenn.edu/analytics-accelerator/.
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About the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative
The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI) is the world’s preeminent academic research center focusing on the development and application of customer analytics methods. Through our innovative Research Opportunity program and R&D “crowdsourcing” approach, WCAI enables academic researchers from around the world to help companies understand how to better monetize the individual-level data they collect about customers through the development and application of new predictive models. We marry our work with companies and researchers around the world with a range of co-curricular student programs that foster talent development and recruitment.
About the Wharton School
Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates economic and social value around the world. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 participants in executive education programs annually and a powerful alumni network of 96,000 graduates.
