A number of high profile, digital age companies sponsor the center, like Sun Microsystems, IBM, Dell, and Lucent Technologies. They seek association with UT, but perhaps just as importantly with Whinston. With his engaging ideas, his clear yet challenging prose, Whinston has become one of the Internet s leading gurus. The information is bought and sold online with virtual cash, but the simulated economy has very real incentives higher grades and genuine cash prizes awarded to the winning teams at the end of each semester. Students in the EDE learn the ins and outs of Internet commerce first-hand.
Professors get a living laboratory that mirrors the real Internet.
No other school in the country is doing this, says Whinston. From a research perspective, it lets us study an electronic commerce community. Some interesting lessons have emerged over the project s first five semesters. According to Anitesh Barua, the UT professor who coordinates the EDE, sellers have learned the crucial importance of building trust with online customers. They can t show their products, because they are just paper, just electronic, but they still have to create credibility.