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Karl Ulrich
CIBC Professor of Entrepreneurship and eCommerce,  Vice Dean of Innovation

Karl T. Ulrich is Vice Dean of Innovation and the CIBC Professor of Entrepreneurship and e-Commerce at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an appointment as Professor of Mechanical Engineering. His research is focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and product development. He is the co-author of Product Design and Development (4th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2008), a textbook used by a quarter of a million students worldwide. His most recent book is Innovation Tournaments (Harvard Business Press, 2009). He is the winner of many teaching awards, including the Anvil Award, the Miller-Sherrerd Award, and the Excellence in Teaching Award at The Wharton School. At Penn, he co-founded the Weiss Tech House and the Integrated Product Design Program, two institutions fostering innovation in the university community. In addition to his academic work, Professor Ulrich has led dozens of innovation efforts for medical devices, tools, computer peripherals, food products, web-based services, and sporting goods. As a result of this work, he holds more than 20 patents. Professor Ulrich is a founder of Terrapass Inc. which the New York Times identified as one of the most noteworthy ideas of 2005, and he is a designer of the Xootr scooter, which Business Week recognized as one of the 50 coolest products of the 21st Century. Professor Ulrich holds bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT.

Current Research
Joel Wooten, Karl Ulrich 2011, Idea Generation and the Role of Feedback: Evidence from Field Experiments with Innovation Tournaments
Karl Ulrich 2010, Design is Everything?
Laura J. Kornish, Karl Ulrich 2010, Characterizing Opportunity Spaces in Innovation: Evidence from Large Samples of Ideas in Five Domains
Karan Girotra, Christian Terwiesch, Karl Ulrich 2009, Idea Generation and the Quality of the Best Idea
Karan Girotra, Christian Terwiesch, Karl Ulrich 2007, User Design of Customized Products

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In The News
Xootr Scooter - 50 Coolest Products of the 21st Century, Business Week, 07/29/2009, Karl Ulrich
Nightly Business Report - 30 Most Important Innovations of Past 30 Years, PBS, 02/16/2009, Karl Ulrich
Practicing What He Preaches, Wharton Alumni Magazine, 11/01/2008, Karl Ulrich
Nightly Business Report - Interview with Melissa Harmon on Innovation, PBS, 08/08/2008, Karl Ulrich
Harper's Index - Energy Saved by Bicycling - October 2006, Harper's, 10/01/2006, Karl Ulrich

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Knowledge@Wharton
Podcast - Innovation - Part 1, 11/03/2008, Karl Ulrich
Podcast - Innovation - Part 2, 11/03/2008, Karl Ulrich
Podcast - Innovation - Part 3, 11/03/2008, Karl Ulrich
Getting Credit for a Novel Approach to Auto Emissions, 03/23/2005, Karl Ulrich

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Teaching Materials
My Course Materials
My course materials are open to the public and links are on the home page.

Epodia.org
Others materials are available from Epodia.org.

Fun Projects by Alums
Terrapass
(Wharton Alumni from OPIM651 2004: Tom Arnold and Adam Stein)

Smatchy
(Wharton Alumni from OPIM651 2005: Joel Wooten and Juneen Belknap)

OfficeDrop
This is a venture founded by Prasad Thammineni, an alum of OPIM 651.

DOCAsap
Founded by OPIM 651 alumni Puneet Maheshwari and Vicente de Baca.

Lingzini
Actually came out of OPIM 654, the San Francisco web workshop held in January 2009. A power tool for naming and branding products, services, and organizations.

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Honors And Awards
Excellence in Teaching Award - Undergraduate Division, 2010
Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award - MBA Program, 2010
Excellence in Teaching Award - The Wharton School, 2007
Elective Teaching Award - Wharton Executive MBA Program, 2006
Distinguished Fellow - POMS College of Product Innovation and Technology Management, 2006

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Projects
Karl Ulrich, Book Project - Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society
Christian Terwiesch, Karl Ulrich, Book Project - Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities

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Executive Education
Strategic R&D Management, Philadelphia Campus - The Wharton School and Fontainebleau, France - INSEAD
Competitive Marketing Strategy, Philadelphia Campus - The Wharton School
Full-Spectrum Innovation, Philadelphia Campus - The Wharton School

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Ulrich Karl
Karl Ulrich
 3730 Walnut Street
547 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
Philadelphia, PA19104
Phone: (215) 898-6727
ulrich@wharton.upenn.edu

Personal Website

Research Interests: Innovation, Product Design and Development, Environmental Issues