‘Unique ‘Brainsourcing’ Competition to Reward the Most Innovative Technology-based Tools
NEW YORK, September 30, 2009 – Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Ltd., announced today that it has partnered with Knowledge@Wharton to create a global innovation tournament. The objective of this tournament is to select the best and the most innovative technology-based tools that have the ability to help companies gain a competitive advantage by increasing revenues, cutting costs and improving the customer experience. Participants will be asked to submit entries to the competition by November 6, 2009.. The winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony, which will be held in early 2010 on the campus of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The tournament is inspired by the recently published book, Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities, by Wharton professors Karl Ulrich and Christian Terwiesch. One of the book’s themes is the way in which competition helps to jumpstart innovation. “We refer to it as a ‘brainsourcing’ competition because we’re ‘crowdsourcing’ from the very best minds in both the academic and business worlds,” said Terwiesch. “It will be like the TV show, American Idol. You start with many aspiring contestants. They will participate in multiple elimination rounds. At the end, depending on whether the judges like their ‘act’, you will have some remarkably talented people remaining. That’s a powerful metaphor for the Innovation Tournament.”
The Wipro-Knowledge@Wharton Innovation Tournament is designed to identify managerial “tools” that organizations can use to increase efficiencies, cut costs, streamline operations and/or improve customer experience. A “tool” is defined as a method, approach, template, process or software that meets these organizational criteria. The tournament is open to individuals and teams worldwide.
The competition will take place in three phases. Phase I involves the actual submission of the tools. Phase II will consist of a live, on-line webinar event hosted by Wipro Technologies and Knowledge@Wharton, during which 25 individuals or teams will be chosen to present information on their tools. Ten of these Phase II semi-finalists will be selected through a voting system and will have the unique opportunity to be mentored by Wharton alumni/business owners, faculty and other Wharton colleagues.
Finally, Phase III will require each finalist to make a presentation at a live event at Wharton, where the winners will be selected by a panel of judges. The judges will include members from the Wipro Council for Industry Research and faculty from Wharton. Knowledge@Wharton will record podcasts with the winners, which will be featured on both the Knowledge@Wharton and Wipro websites.
According to Ulrich, “Everyone uses tournaments in everyday life. They are used in society. They are used in organizations. Now Wipro and Knowledge@Wharton have collaborated to create a tournament from which new ideas will emerge that can help businesses during the recession and beyond. This free competition promises excitement and original ideas.”
Jessie Paul CMO, Wipro Technologies, added that “The Wipro Council for Industry Research addresses the needs of industry customers looking to collaborate with academia in order to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Through the brainsourcing competition concept, we are challenging the best minds to develop innovative models and tools that can help address our customers’ pain points”.
The deadline for the tournament is November 6, 2009. To register, please go to: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/events/innovationtournament2009/.
Alternately, you can visit Knowledge@Wharton and click on the ad that says “Innovation Tournament.” There is no entrance fee.
About the Wharton School and Knowledge@Wharton
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,700 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 12,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of 85,000 graduates.
Knowledge@Wharton is a free biweekly online resource that captures knowledge generated at the Wharton School and beyond through such channels as research papers, conferences, speakers, books, and interviews with faculty and other business experts on current business topics. The Knowledge@Wharton network — which includes Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Indian editions — has more than 1.3 million subscribers worldwide.
About Wipro Technologies
Wipro Technologies, a division of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT), is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified global IT services organization. Wipro Technologies was recently assessed at Level 5 for CMMI V 1.2 across offshore and onsite development centers. Wipro is one of the largest product engineering and support service providers worldwide. Wipro provides comprehensive research and development services, IT solutions and services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, package implementation, software application development, and maintenance services to corporations globally.
In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India, offering system integration, network integration, software solutions and IT services.
Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of consumer products and lighting. In the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets, Wipro provides IT solutions and services for global corporations. Wipro’s ADS’ are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange – Mumbai, and the National Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit our websites at http://www.wipro.com/ and http://www.wiprocorporate.com/.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Lavanya DJ
Gutenberg Communications
212.239.8740
Lavanya@gutenberpr.com
Peter Winicov
Wharton Communications
215.746.6471
winicov@wharton.upenn.edu