Fall Conference Agenda

8:30–9:00 a.m. — Breakfast


9:00–9:10 a.m. — Welcome and Introduction

Harbir Singh, Mack Professor of Management, The Wharton School; Faculty Co-Director, Mack Institute for Innovation Management; Faculty Director, Huntsman Program

Valery Yakubovich, Executive Director, Mack Institute for Innovation Management


9:10–9:40 a.m. — Wharton’s Perspective on Innovation Ecosystems

Wharton scholars made path-breaking contributions to research on innovation ecosystems. In this session, we will review their insights and discuss how we can use them to understand the ways in which AI is likely to disrupt existing innovation ecosystems and create new ones.

John Paul MacDuffie, Professor of Management, The Wharton School; Director of the Program on Vehicle and Mobility Innovation, Mack Institute for Innovation Managment


9:40–10:20 a.m. — How Do Providers of Core Technologies Contribute to AI-Driven Ecosystems? 

Providers of core technologies can orchestrate their own ecosystems as well as contribute to others. In this session, we will engage in a conversation with one of such providers about their perspective on the innovation ecosystems they are engaged and the roles they play in them. 

Patrick Combes, Senior Principal of Technology, Amazon 

Juston Forte, Lead Solutions Architect, OpenAI 

Moderated by Valery Yakubovich, Executive Director, Mack Institute 


10:20 – 10:40 p.m. — Coffee Break


10:40–11:20 a.m. — Creating Value with AI Agents  

AI Agents are widely perceived as the next frontier of Generative AI. What can businesses do with them already today? Can they design a distinctive value proposition? 

Tejasvi Devaru, VP, Automation Anywhere 

In conversation with David Hsu, Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management, The Wharton School 


11:20 a.m.–12:20 p.m. — Industry Roundtables I: Value Propositions for AI-Driven Ecosystems 

Participants will split in groups around specific industries and technologies to explore in-depth the following question: What focal and complementary value propositions are emerging around the technology or within the industry? 


12:20 – 1:20 p.m. — Networking Lunch

Participants are encouraged to continue their group discussions


1:20 – 2:20 p.m. — Industry Roundtables II: Actions for Managers

The second series of roundtables will focus on actions businesses might take vis-à-vis AI-driven ecosystems: How should managers decide what bottlenecks to address and business opportunities to pursue, ecosystems to create or join, and roles to play? How can they capture a fair share of the value generated by the ecosystem? 


2:20–2:40 p.m. — Coffee Break


2:40–3:30 p.m. — Bringing It All Together

In this session, we will summarize the groups’ outputs to come up with general insights about the role of AI in the evolution of innovation ecosystems, the opportunities and challenges that businesses are facing, and the strategies to benefit from the former and address the latter.

Rahul Kapoor, David W. Hauck Professor; Professor of Management; Chairperson, Management Department, The Wharton School