What new products or services should you launch next year? How can you improve the productivity of a paint line? What should you name your new venture? How can you decrease patient waiting times? How can you improve the customer experience?
Pretty much any creative problem-solving task can be framed as seeking a new match between solution and need, from operational process improvements to creating strategies to foster organic growth. Innovation tournaments aim to find a match that is not just good, but exceptional.
Leveraging more than two decades of experience organizing innovation tournaments in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street, from Buenos Aires to Kuwait City, Shanghai to Moscow, and with many Fortune 500 companies, two renowned researchers, entrepreneurs, and the foremost experts on innovation tournaments offer a template that you can use to generate winning ideas that will drive great outcomes-whatever your challenges, whatever your business.
In The Innovation Tournament Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Exceptional Solutions to Any Challenge, Wharton professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl T. Ulrich offer an engaging, often humorous, and always actionable guide to help you learn:
--How to frame and articulate your specific innovation challenge
--How to decide on the right format, structure, and strategic direction for your own innovation tournament
--How to maximize the quality of the opportunities that will compete
--How to select the very best ideas
--How to develop those ideas into real-world opportunities
--How to use tournaments to foster a culture of innovation
Fast-reading and filled with real-world successes, The Innovation Tournament Handbook is a comprehensive roadmap to finding a new match between a solution and a need that is not merely good, but exceptional.

Fast-reading and filled with real-world successes, The Innovation Tournament Handbook is a comprehensive roadmap to finding a new match between a solution and a need that is not merely good, but exceptional.

About the Author

Christian Terwiesch is the Andrew M. Heller Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a professor in Wharton's Operations and Information Management department and codirector of Penn's Mack Institute for Innovation Management. He also holds a faculty appointment in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine. His research on operations management and on innovation management appears in many of the leading academic journals, including Management Science and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Terwiesch is coauthor of The Innovation Tournament Handbook; Matching Supply with Demand, a widely used operations management textbook that is now in its third edition; Innovation Tournaments; and Connected Strategies, which combines his expertise in the fields of operations, innovation, and strategy to help companies take advantage of digital technology leading to new business models.
Karl T. Ulrich is CIBC Endowed Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also professor of mechanical engineering. His most recent project was the design and construction of Tangen Hall, the largest facility in the world for student entrepreneurship. He cofounded Venture Lab, the Weiss Tech House, and the Integrated Product Design Program, institutions fostering innovation in the university community.
He is coauthor of The Innovation Tournament Handbook (Wharton School Press, 2023); Product Design and Development (7th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2019), a textbook used by a quarter of a million students worldwide; Innovation Tournaments (Harvard Business Review Press, 2009); and Winning in China (Wharton School Press, 2021).

Reviews
"A lively, thoughtful primer for generating solutions to a wide range of problems." * Kirkus Reviews *
"Innovation is one of the greatest opportunities to address the challenges we face in the world. In The Innovation Tournament Handbook, Wharton professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich offer a method for generating winning ideas that will drive great outcomes." * Neil Blumenthal, CEO, Warby Parker *
"Accessible and fast-reading, Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich's new book is filled with stories of organizations that have run innovation tournaments that have generated game-changing successes. In The Innovation Tournament Handbook, the authors break down how they did it and offer a step-by-step guide for anyone wishing to do the same." * Eurie Kim, Managing Partner, Forerunner Ventures *
"Clarity, accessibility, and usefulness are the hallmarks of The Innovation Tournament Handbook. Despite being a quick read for anyone short on time, the step-by-step ideas presented by Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich are easy to remember, and even easier to apply. After completing the book, you'll be able to run a tournament of your own with confidence-and in no time flat." * Phil Kim, Chief Innovation, Strategy & Creative Officer, Universal Nutrition *
"At last, Wharton professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich have distilled their experience running more than 100 innovation tournaments to provide a roadmap anyone can use to run their own. The Innovation Tournament Handbook is a must-read for anyone who wants to find an optimal match between a challenge and an exceptional solution." * Ravi Viswanathan, Founder & Managing Partner, NewView Capital *
"At PennMedicine we have conducted a number of innovation tournaments ranging from focused workshops at the department level to tournaments that involved our entire network. The tournament process not only created exceptional ideas but also helped us foster a culture of innovation." * Kevin B. Mahoney, CEO, Penn Medicine *
"With The Innovation Tournament Handbook, Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich apply their vast experience in innovation to offer organizations of all sizes a novel way to generate ideas to address a broad range of challenges." * Andres E. Sadler, CEO Global Business Services, Wolters Kluwer *



Book Information
ISBN 9781613631690
Author Christian Terwiesch
Format Paperback
Page Count 142
Imprint Wharton Digital Press
Publisher Wharton Digital Press