Washington: Indian IT major Wipro Technologies has teamed up with Knowledge@Wharton, online resource of the prestigious Wharton business school, to launch a global 'brainsourcing' competition to reward innovative technology-based tools - somewhat like popular TV show "American Idol".

Participants will be asked to submit entries to the competition by Nov 6. The winners will be recognised at an award ceremony, which will be held in early 2010 on the campus of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The objective of the tournament is to select the best and most innovative technology-based tools that have the ability to help companies gain a competitive advantage by increasing revenues, cutting costs and improving the customer experience, the two institutions announced Friday.

The tournament is inspired by the recently published book, "Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities", by Wharton professors Karl Ulrich and Christian Terwiesch.

One of the book's themes is the way in which competition helps to jumpstart innovation. "We refer to it as a 'brainsourcing' competition because we are 'crowdsourcing' from the very best minds in both the academic and business worlds," said Terwiesch.

"It will be like the TV show, 'American Idol'. You start with many aspiring contestants. They will participate in multiple elimination rounds. At the end, depending on whether the judges like their 'act', you will have some remarkably talented people remaining. That's a powerful metaphor for the Innovation Tournament."

The Wipro-Knowledge@Wharton Innovation Tournament is designed to identify managerial "tools" that organisations can use to increase efficiencies, cut costs, streamline operations and/or improve customer experience.

The competition will take place in three phases. Phase I involves the actual submission of the tools. Phase II will consist of a live, on-line webinar event hosted by Wipro Technologies and Knowledge@Wharton, during which 25 individuals or teams will be chosen to present information on their tools.

Ten of these Phase II semi-finalists will be selected through a voting system and will have the unique opportunity to be mentored by Wharton alumni/business owners, faculty and other Wharton colleagues.

Finally, Phase III will require each finalist to make a presentation at a live event at Wharton, where the winners will be selected by a panel of judges.

The judges will include members from the Wipro Council for Industry Research and Faculty from Wharton.

Knowledge@Wharton will record podcasts with the winners, which will be featured on both the Knowledge@Wharton and Wipro websites.

According to Ulrich, "Everyone uses tournaments in everyday life. They are used in society. They are used in organisations. Now Wipro and Knowledge@Wharton have collaborated to create a tournament from which new ideas will emerge that can help businesses during the recession and beyond. This free competition promises excitement and original ideas."

Jessie Paul, chief marketing officer, Wipro Technologies, said: "Through the 'brainsourcing' competition concept, we are challenging the best minds to develop innovative models and tools that can help address our customers' pain points."

"We are delighted to partner with Knowledge@Wharton, an acknowledged thought leader and innovation lighthouse, for this tournament," he added.

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