1. Undergraduate Fellow Program
Mack Institute for Innovation Management
The Wharton School

2. Undergraduate Fellow Program: Patterned after Grad MGMT892 Collaborative Innovation Program
Corporate partners propose a pressing strategic challenge; the Mack Institute facilitates student teams to work on it
Impact: Corporate partners collaborate with students to solve current challenges facing mid- to large-size established global firms, while exposing students to real-life challenges and management theories
Participants: Penn graduate students working in parallel with corporate partners, guided by Wharton faculty
Student teams (4‐5 members) are chosen specifically to meet the needs of the projects

3. Design: Content and Structure
Problem framing & project mgmt.
Corp. strategy, M&A, alliance management
Incumbency, disruptive innovation
Org. design
Real options, discovery driven planning
Design thinking
Penn-wide resource access
CONCEPTS, Tools and resources
Decision-making under uncertainty
Team management, esp. in globally distributed environments
Boundaries & rules of engagement
Learning goals (personal and team)
Team dynamics AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Introductory meeting
Scope of work and deliverable definition
Mid-point presentation
Final presentation and executive summary
Corporate partner interaction
Confidentiality and non- disclosure agreements
Peer and partner evaluations
“No drop” policy
Dedicated Wharton staff liaison to faculty and corporate partners
Full Administrative support

4. Pedagogical Approach strategy considerations
What challenges do industry incumbents face? How can they remain competitive?
How may organizational structure facilitate or hinder efficiency and effectiveness?
What roles do top and middle managers play?
How can M&A, alliances, and ecosystems improve growth prospects and what are the risks?
strategy considerations
CONCEPTS, Tools and resources
Combination of traditional and experiential learning: theory + application, large group lectures + team meetings with faculty
General frameworks and customized tools
Peer learning: students present to the class on their experience by team and by functional group (leader, scribe, liaison, analyst)
academic EXPERIENCE
AOM BPS/TIM/ENT PDW,
The Collaborative Innovation Program at Wharton

5. Undergraduate Projects to Date
The Mack Institute has worked with a number of undergraduate research fellows in recent years:
Fall 2015: Huawei IoT Market Overview
Fall 2016; MAS Holdings Innovative Yoga Technology
Fall 2016: Eurolife Predictive Analytics
Spring 2017: Eurolife Chatbot
Spring 2017: Child Mind Institute Non-Profit Revenue Diversification & Mental Health Tech
Fall 2017: Hershey VR/AR Technology Exploration

6. 2015 – 2017 Undergraduate Projects
PROJECT TITLE: Internet of Things Market Overview
PARTNER: Huawei
SUMMARY:
What are the key dynamics of the telecommunications industry that will change as digitization continues to permeate? How will networks adapt to manage and support the ever-growing number of connected devices? How can those devices use network services in the most effective and efficient ways for telecoms? What are the implications of digitization on both the enterprise and consumer level?
This project seeks to address the digital telecom landscape and provide a set of strategic recommendations for engagement across a number of industry applications.
PARTICIPANTS:
Aaron Guo WUG’17 ENG’17
Pratyusha Gupta WUG’16 ENG’16
Dylan Sun WUG’16 ENG’16
Junda Zhu WUG’17 ENG’17
PROJECT TITLE: Innovative Yoga Technology
PARTNER: MAS Holdings
SUMMARY:
The company is invested in the athletic-wear sector and sees an emerging opportunity specifically within the area of yoga practitioners. Using a design-thinking approach, the team has developed the conception of posture correction as a core driver of this new business. With the primary assumptions that yogis would engage with a product to improve their posture and help them track progress towards achieving their “yoga goals,” the objective is to provide an unobtrusive and simple way for users to set and achieve goals.
PARTICIPANTS:
Andrea Chew WUG’18
Holly Li WUG’18
Neha Narain WUG’19 ENG’19
Uswah Shabbir WUG’19

7. 2015 – 2017 Undergraduate Projects
PROJECT TITLE: Predictive Analytics for Insurance
CORPORATE PARTNER: Eurolife
SUMMARY:
This firm is currently considering their needs in the predictive analytics space and how additional investment and investigation can add value to the business. What would be the best approach to develop predictive models that can be applied to any number of business issues for the firm? The team is looking at data (customer inception/cancellation/renewal dates, premium, sum assured, policy duration, and payment frequency) to determine cost-efficient and focused anti-churn campaigns to secure a better persistency of this firm’s portfolio.
PARTICIPANTS:
Jeffrey Cheng ENG’19 WUG’19
Mark Liam Murphy ENG’18 WUG’18
Joy Wang ENG’18 C’18
PROJECT TITLE: Chatbot for Insurance Claims
PARTNER: Eurolife
SUMMARY:
How can internal teams optimize claims and reimbursements? Can this be a semi-autonomous process? Could the chatbot extend across multiple areas of the business including auto, life, and home insurance? How can natural language processing inform decision trees and claims processing?
This team built a fully-functioning and interactive chatbot based on IBM Watson protocols and Facebook APIs over the course of the project.
PARTICIPANTS:
Visakh Nair ENG’18
Dhruv Jaggia WG’18
Nicholas Lind WG’18
Chris Painter WUG’18 ENG’18
Vinai Rachakonda ENG’20

8. 2015 – 2017 Undergraduate Projects
PROJECT TITLE: Non-Profit Revenue Diversification & Mental Health Tech
PARTNER: Child Mind Institute
SUMMARY:
There is considerable interest in using low-cost technologies to study, monitor, and provide guidance related to mental health disorders (to include some childhood psychiatric illnesses) across large populations. This research fellowship project focuses on a market map and ecosystem evaluation of technology and platforms.
PARTICIPANTS:
Young-Hun Kim ENG’18 WUG’18
Adele Li ENG’20 WUG’20
Maghnus Mareneck ENG’20 WUG’20
Caroline Raquel ENG’20 WUG’20
Ece Nur Sahin ENG’18 WUG’18
PROJECT TITLE: Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Considerations for CPG
CORPORATE PARTNER: The Hershey Company
SUMMARY:
The intersection of evolving consumer trends and the portfolio strength of Hershey provides us with an
opportunity to create a new revenue stream that extend snacking into a holistic experience. With the
emergence of technologies like AR and VR as well as new technologies like aromatics, presents a unique opportunity for Hershey to upgrade its product experience with a holistic eating experience. The
challenge remains as to what technology to use for what type of application, and how Hershey can
monetize this model and create revenue beyond products.
PARTICIPANTS:
Sonia Sarda WUG’19 C’19