Best Paper in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award

The Industry Studies Association invites submissions for the annual Best Paper in Innovation and Entrepreneurship award. Winning papers are expected to demonstrate significant personal investment in understanding the markets, firms, and institutions of an industry and will frequently involve the integration of direct observation through field based research with appropriate theory and analysis.

The award includes a $500 honorarium for first prize and a $250 honorarium for the runner up. Papers not chosen as winners will still be considered for inclusion in the regular Industry Studies Association Annual Conference program. Paper submissions to any of the research streams are eligible for this award. Self-nominations are accepted. The submission deadline is January 16, 2026.

Submission Process

To be considered for the award, each candidate must:

  1. Submit a conference paper proposal (click here). Submissions will be processed only through Microsoft's Academic Conference Management Toolkit (CMT), not your ISA account. Click here to create a new CMT account or login to your existing CMT account. 
  2. In your CMT submission form, upload an extended abstract, then scroll to the bottom of the form and select "Best Paper in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award" to be eligible.
  3. Register for the conference by early March and commit to attend.  

Failure to fulfill any of these steps will lead to disqualification. 

Submission deadline is January 16, 2026. 

2025 Award Winners