Penn Wharton Commercialization Workshop

An Innovation Management Curriculum for Penn Faculty and Staff

The Wharton School has partnered with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research to create a unique learning experience for faculty, scientists, and clinicians interested in commercializing their work at Penn and launching a new venture. This program is based on some of the most successful teaching offerings on innovation and entrepreneurship around campus.

About the Program

In this three-day program, participants learn techniques to develop their ideas for commercialization and learn the key ingredients for a successful venture. Participants walk through the process of creating a great business opportunity, learn how to evaluate the opportunity, and undertake the first steps of execution.

This program is designed for faculty, scientists, clinicians, and post-docs who want to commercialize their research.

Program Format

The curriculum consists of a dozen 90-minute sessions that help participants move from an idea to a new venture. Each session addresses a specific piece of the journey. View sample session descriptions here (PDF).

Session topics include:

  • Innovation tournaments
  • Needfinding
  • Techniques for generating and evaluating opportunities
  • Designing products and services
  • Developing the business model
  • Discovery-driven planning
  • Financing strategies
  • Intellectual property issues

Sessions are taught in an interactive format by a team of faculty from Wharton, the School of Design, and the Law School. In addition to the faculty, you will learn from some of Penn’s most successful entrepreneurs sharing their experience of launching ventures while working for the university.

Past Workshops