Direct Connection
By Kelly J. Andrews
How do academic ideas make
it into practice? When faculty
members consult with industry,
the path between research and
practice is direct.
"Innovation is a new match between a solution and need,
delivered to the customer," said Karl T. Ulrich, the CIBC
Professor and professor of operations and information
management. "It begins with a sensed opportunity—a
hypothesis that value can be created."
The occasion was the Impact Conference on Managing
Innovation Systems held on October 27, 2006. Ulrich, the
conference co-director, was addressing a high-powered group
of researchers and executives convened at the top of Jon M.
Huntsman Hall. While Ulrich was referring to new product
development cycles, his words apply equally well to the research
conducted by Wharton's faculty.
Faculty research is also a match between a need—the
questions raised by industry—and a solution. The professors
here work with more than 1,000 businesses, government
agencies, and nonprofit organizations around the world, in
cluding most of the Fortune 500 companies.
The answers they find become business practice around
the world.
In this article, Wharton Alumni Magazine looks at a few
examples of the real-world impact of close research
collaborations between professors and corporate partners in October 2006.
- Research Centers as Hubs for Industry Collaboration
- New Models for Innovations at Merck
- Putting Theory to Work at Dupont
- How a Vanguard Partnership Creates a Unique Knowledge
- Academic Research with Practical Application
- Bristol-Myers Squibbs Looks at New Product Diffusion
- How research Becomes Practice
- Getting Involved with Wharton Research
- Why All Research Matters
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