Events Archives

Join Us For A Webinar on AI Data Centers

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MACK INSTITUTE WEBINAR AI Data Centers: Separating Fact from Fiction Wednesday, August 5 | 12:00 PM ET As companies race to build the next generation of AI, data centers have become the focus of heated debates over electricity demand, water use, and economic impact. But how much of what we're…Read More

Innovation in Sports Fan Engagement

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Innovation in Sports Fan Engagement Spring 2026 Conference Report Digital transformation has expanded the ways fans engage with sports, creating new opportunities for personalization, global reach, and interactive experiences. At the same time, it has introduced fragmentation. Fans now follow teams and leagues across multiple platforms and streaming services, often…Read More

Tech Talks: How Pilots Can Drive Business and Innovation

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On February 18, the Mack Institute partnered with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Commerce to host the latest installment of Tech Talks, a series designed to convene the region’s founder community around topics in innovation. Held on Wharton’s campus, From Promise to Pilot: How Pilots Can Drive Business…Read More

CarboWells Wins 2026 Y-Prize

Photo by Lamont Abrams for Penn Engineering Congratulations to this year’s Y-Prize winners, CarboWells! The team proposed a 3D-printed concrete well plug that captures carbon and is designed to reduce failure rates in abandoned oil and gas wells. There are an estimated 2 million abandoned wells across the United States,…Read More

Digital Twins 2.0: Making the Invisible Visible

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Digital Twins 2.0: Making the Invisible Visible Fall 2025 Conference Report Digital twins are moving rapidly from niche technology to a central tool for business innovation. From factory floors and operating rooms to autonomous vehicles and global enterprises, the technology is shifting from experimental pilots to scalable, revenue-generating systems. The…Read More

Y-Prize 2025-26 Finalists Announced

Congratulations to the four student teams chosen as finalists for this year’s Y-Prize competition: Aeronyx, Carbo Wells, Haven and Lattica! The Y-Prize competition challenges students to build their entrepreneurial skills by creating business plans for technologies invented at Penn Engineering. The team with the best commercial application wins $15,000 to help…Read More

Disrupting the Life Sciences Commercial Model: Exploring the Future Impact of AI and Patient-Centric Healthcare

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On Friday, September 26, the Mack Institute, in partnership with EVERSANA, AWS and Modus Create, hosted Disrupting the Life Sciences Commercial Model: Exploring the Future Impact of AI and Patient-Centric Healthcare. This intimate event brought together senior executives from pharma and medtech with Wharton and Penn faculty to explore how AI,…Read More

Join Us for a Webinar on Corporate-Startup Interaction

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Corporate Venturing 2025: A New Model of Corporate-Startup Interaction Tuesday, June 24 | 2:00 p.m. | via Zoom Join us for a webinar marking the release of our new report, When Goliath Needs David: How Corporations and Startups Are Redefining Corporate Venturing. The report explores how established companies are increasingly…Read More

Productivity in the Age of Intelligent Automation

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Productivity in the Age of Intelligent Automation Spring 2025 Conference Report Productivity has always been a central concern of business leaders, operations researchers, and innovators. But what it means to be productive—and how we measure and achieve it—is rapidly changing in the age of artificial intelligence. The Mack Institute’s Spring…Read More

AI Podcast: Reimagining Customer Service with LLM-Powered Chatbots

Listen to an AI-generated podcast summarizing key insights from Reimagining Customer Service Journeys with LLMs: A Framework for Chatbot Design and Workflow Integration, a white paper from Mack Institute co-director Prof. Christian Terwiesch and Lennart Meincke, Mack Institute predoctoral fellow. The paper presents a framework for integrating chatbots into workflows,…Read More

Announcing Our Spring 2025 Conference: Productivity in the Age of Intelligent Automation

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Friday, March 21, 2025 The Wharton School, Philadelphia The Mack Institute is pleased to announce our Spring 2025 conference, Productivity in the Age of Intelligent Automation. This one-day event will bring together leading Wharton researchers and expert business practitioners to examine the uncertain question of how artificial intelligence will impact…Read More

Stentix Wins 2025 Y-Prize

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Congratulations to this year’s Y-Prize winners, Stentix! The team proposed a bile duct stent that can be adjusted noninvasively, helping to maintain bile flow without additional surgeries. A biliary stent is a small, tube-like device inserted into the bile ducts to keep them open and allow bile to flow from…Read More

Y-Prize 2024-25 Finalists Announced

Congratulations to the four student teams chosen as finalists for this year’s Y-Prize competition: Serpent, EmBrace, Agentis and Stentix! The Y-Prize competition challenges students to build their entrepreneurial skills by creating business plans for technologies invented at Penn Engineering. The team with the best commercial application wins $10,000 to help make…Read More

AI-Driven Ecosystems

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AI-Driven Innovation Fall 2024 Conference Report Artificial Intelligence has emerged as one of the most transformative technologies of our time, reshaping industries and redefining the competitive landscape. Yet the complexities and costs associated with AI development and deployment, coupled with the uncertainty of value creation, make it clear that no…Read More

Announcing Our Fall 2024 Conference: AI-Driven Innovation Ecosystems

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Friday, November 8, 2024 The Wharton School, Philadelphia The Mack Institute is pleased to announce our Fall 2024 conference, AI-Driven Innovation Ecosystems. Bringing together leading Wharton researchers with expert business practitioners, this one-day conference will explore how firms can overcome the risks and high costs of AI development and implementation…Read More

Y-Prize Competition Kicks Off for 2024-25 Academic Year

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The Y-Prize Competition kicked off this week with a well-attended event held in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. Now in its thirteenth year, the Y-Prize challenges students to hone their entrepreneurial skills by creating business plans using cutting-edge technology developed at Penn Engineering. The team that comes up with the most promising commercial…Read More

Collaborative Innovation: Shaping the Future with Corporate Venturing and Startups

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Collaborative Innovation: Shaping the Future with Corporate Venturing and Startups Spring 2024 Conference Report In this era of rapidly evolving, highly disruptive technologies, corporate venturing practices are evolving, too. High-profile partnerships like Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI or BMW’s move into the electrification space with ChargePoint underscore the current…Read More

Insights From Tech Talks: Bridging Academia and Innovation in Philadelphia’s Tech Hub

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Panelists Steven Nichtberger, Jen Gilburg, John Swartley, and Tempest Carter On April 24, the Mack Institute, together with Philadelphia’s Department of Commerce, presented Tech Talks, a panel discussion with government officials and entrepreneurs on how Penn and Wharton can help solidify the city’s future as a leader in innovation and…Read More

Join Us For Tech Talks: Bridging Academia and Innovation in Philly’s Tech Hub

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Join Us For Tech Talks: Bridging Academia and Innovation in Philly's Tech Hub Wednesday, April 24 | 6:00 p.m. 8th Floor, Jon M. Huntsman Hall 3730 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Join us at the University of Pennsylvania for an event co-organized by the Mack Institute for Innovation Management and the City of Philadelphia Department of…Read More

Announcing Our Spring ’24 Conference: Shaping the Future with Corporate Venturing and Startups

A small group of people are engaged in a discussion at a table, with papers and a drink can on the table. One person is speaking, while others listen attentively.

Friday, March 22, 2024 The Wharton School, Philadelphia The Mack Institute is pleased to announce our Spring 2024 conference, Collaborative Innovation: Shaping the Future with Corporate Venturing and Startups. In this era of transformative and disruptive new technologies, the relationship between established firms and startups is becoming more collaborative. These…Read More