WTIC 2025: Conference Agenda

Location: Jon M. Hunstmann Hall, Room 245

Friday, April 25


11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. — Registration & Lunch


12:45 p.m.–1:00 p.m. — Welcome


1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. — Knowledge and Learning

Discussant: Dan Levinthal (Wharton)

Discourse and Emergence: Organizations Learning and Developing Novelty in Emerging Market Spaces
Vibha Gaba (INSEAD), Henrich Greve (INSEAD) and Sang Won Han (INSEAD)

The Receding Burden of Knowledge 
Anne Marie Knott (WUSL) and Leonardo Kluppel (Ohio)

Evaluating Qualitative Predictions: A Novel Method Applied to the Automotive Powertrain Transition (1970–2009)
J. Peter Murmann (University of St. Gallen) and Noel Kretz (University of St. Gallen)              


2:30 p.m.–2:50 p.m. — Break


2:50 p.m.–4:20 p.m. — Institutional Effects on Innovation 

Discussant: David Hsu (Wharton) 

Shielding or Stifling? How Policies Restricting Foreign Acquisitions of Domestic Technologies Affect U.S. Entrepreneurial Innovation
Qing He (NUS), Kenneth Huang (NUS) and Nan Jia (USC) 

Innovating on a Legal Minefield: How Litigation Risks Shape Firms’ Patent Strategies
Mingtao Xu (Tsinghua), Aija Leiponen (Cornell), Yifan Liu (Tsinghua) and Yolanda Xue (Cornell) 

Geopolitical Alignment and Patent Litigation Outcomes: Evidence from China’s AIIB Memberships
Huiyan Zhang (Tsinghua), Raffaele Conti (ESSEC) and Giovanni Valentini (IESE)


4:20 p.m.–4:40 p.m. — Break


4:40 p.m.–6:10 p.m. — Technology Strategy and Markets 

Discussant: Ashish Arora (Duke)

From Early to Late-stage Technologies: Out-Licensing and Performance Outcomes in Technology Startups
Marco Ceccagnoli (GA Tech), Thomas Klueter (IESE) and Solon Moreira (Temple)

Open Source Innovation by Software Startup Firms: Property Rights Considerations
Min Guo (Illinois), Joseph Mahoney (Illinois) and Ramanath Subramanyam (Illinois) 

Transferability MATTRs: Towards Understanding Antecedents of Strategic Licensing
 Dafna Bearson (HBS) and Maria Roche (HBS) 


7:00 p.m. — Dinner


Saturday, April 26


8:30 a.m.–9:00 a.m. — Breakfast


9:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m. — Startups and Founder Effects 

Discussant: Scott Stern (MIT) 

The Paradox of Plenty? Investors, Startups, And Accelerators In A Digital World
Sheryl Winston Smith (BI Norwegian Business School) and Christian Anker (BI Norwegian Business School) 

Spawning or Seeding? Employee Spinouts as External Innovations
Liyue Yan (Boston University), Aseem Kaul (Minnesota), and Brian Wu (Michigan) 

People or Place? Founder Intentions, Entrepreneurial Regions, and Technology Startups
Min Jung Kim (Illinois) and Michael Roach (Illinois)  


10:30 a.m.–10:50 a.m. — Break


10:50 a.m.–12:20 p.m. — Organizational Implications of AI  

Discussant: Prasanna Tambe (Wharton) 

The Narrative AI Advantage? A Field Experiment on Generative AI-Augmented Evaluations of Early-Stage Innovations
Jacqueline Lane (HBS) Leonard Boussioux (Washington), Charles Ayoubi (ESSEC), Rebecca Spens (MIT) and Pooja Wagh (MIT) 

Generative AI and the Nature of Work
 Manuel Hoffmann (HBS), Sam Boysel (HBS), Frank Nagle (HBS), Sida Peng and Kevin Xu 

 The Rise of Industrial AI and Creative Destruction in America: Microfoundations of the Productivity J-Curve
Kristina McElheran (Toronto), MJ Yang (Oklahoma), Erik Brynjolfsson (Stanford) and Zachary Kroff (Census Bureau)   


12:30 p.m — Lunch and Adjourn