RENT is one of Europe's premier conferences in entrepreneurship (from what I've heard) and continues to have an intriguing line-up.  This year they are focusing in on our main area of interest, the growth of firms, and so we hope the response is strong.  The submission deadline is June 1, 2009 and the actual event will take place in Budapest, Hungary, November 19-20, 2009.  

2009 Theme: Entrepreneurial Growth of the Firm

Business growth is a major theme in entrepreneurship research field, one of the themes that scholars as well as practitioners commonly associated with entrepreneurship. Researchers found support for the positive relationship between entrepreneurship and growth, especially in case of younger and smaller firms. There is a gap in scientific literature, however, since this proposition has not been fully tested in case of older and bigger (medium or large) firms. In addition, literature rarely shows a strong interest in how or in which form firms expand. Based on that organizers welcome theoretical as well es empirical research papers addressing entrepreneurial growth. Besides the conference theme, researchers and practitioners will have the opportunity to share their ideas on the conference theme and the general topics from entrepreneurship focusing on a great variety of interesting questions and current issues that are pertinent to the different tracks.

Read the full call for papers.  

One of the few times in the life of a federal statistical program which the general public has an opportunity for input is when a notice about an upcoming change is published in the Federal Register.  Such a notice has recently been placed in the Federal Register, requesting comments and suggestions regarding North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) revisions for 2012.

The Kauffman Foundation is trying to utilize opportunities for Federal Register comments on data collection efforts to make sure that the different perspectives of our research community are voiced on important issues.  This Federal Register request regarding upcoming NAICS revisions would seem an important one for many studying entrepreneurship and innovation.  If you have particular comments, we encourage you to send them directly as outlined in the link above and to forward a copy of your comments on to us.  Alternatively, if you'd be interested in participating in a coordinated letter with Kauffman, please email your comments to me directly.  Please feel free to forward this email on to other researchers who would have an interest in this topic.  

Of particular interest to Kauffman is the request for suggestions for additions of new and emerging industries. Other sections request comments on reducing manufacturing detail and clarifying treatment of manufacturing units that outsource. Comments are due April 7.  We'll be formulating our letter in March. Do you have ideas or an interest in this topic? Please add comments here or email us.

I've seen two recent calls for what looked to be good upcoming events studying innovation in the developing world with an explicit interest in the use of microdata.  

• Third Conference on Micro Evidence on Innovation in Developing Economies
  Rio de Janeiro
  May 10-12, 2009
  Institute for Applied Economic Research, Brasilia, Brazil
  UNU-MERIT, United Nations University
  http://www.merit.unu.edu/MEIDE/
• Workshop on Firm-Level Data Analysis in Transition and Developing Economies
  April 23-24, 2009
  Edinburgh, Scotland
  http://web.ceu.hu/labor/cost/

And while not a call for papers, this summer opportunity at the Barcelona School of Economics looks very much to have a similar focus and appeal.

• Zvi Griliches Research Summer School in the Economics of Innovation
  July 13-15, 2009

As part of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Summer Institute, the Innovation Policy & the Economy (IPE) group will be holding a research meeting.  The session will take place on Monday, July 20, 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

The IPE group focuses on research in economics or other social sciences that analyzes or relates to significant issues of public policy affecting innovation, or its effects on the economy.  The group holds two meetings each year.  The summer meeting is dedicated to the presentation and discussion of research papers.  The audience will consist of both researchers and policy participants.  Preference will be given to empirical research, but interesting theoretical work that is closely-connected to real world problems will also be considered.

If you would like to present at this meeting, please send a PDF or your paper to Rob Shannon at rshannon@nber.org.

Submissions must be received by March 27, 2009.  Unfortunately, space is limited at the Summer Institute and thus it will not be possible to invite everyone who receives this call for papers.  Invited participants will receive logistical information in May.

If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact Rob in the NBER's conference department at 617/868-3900 or rshannon@nber.org.

The next meeting of the NBER's Entrepreneurship Working Group will held on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 in Cambridge, MA as part of NBER's Summer Institute.  This will be the first time the Entrepreneurship Working Group has met during the Summer Institute and should provide good opportunity for researchers to be a part of NBER's larger activities (http://www.nber.org/callforpapers/call_si09.html).  Please note there will be no March meeting.

If you have a paper you would like to present, please send it or an abstract to me by e-mail (jlerner@hbs.edu), FAX (617-495-3817), or mail (Harvard Business School, Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Room 214, Boston, MA 02163) by March 27.  I would also appreciate it if you could pass this call for papers on to colleagues who might be interested, but who may not be on the Bureau's mailing list.

Please contact Rob Shannon in the NBER's Conference Department if you have any further questions.  He can be reached at 617/868-3900 or rshannon@nber.org.

As we have developed more longitudinal data sets over recent years at Kauffman (Kauffman Firm Survey, Panel Study on Entrepreneurial Dynamics, and the Integrated Longitudinal Business Database to name a few), it has become apparent that one of the areas which holds back research in entrepreneurship and innovation is not just access to data but the human capital skills of our research community in using new, increasingly complex data sets.  It's something we have and continue to struggle with as to what actions we can take to help break that research bottleneck.  Some of our Emerging Scholars Initiatives (Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program and NBER Entrepreneurship Research Bootcamp) but I have often wondered if some additional course offerings might be warranted.

That's a long-winded way of highlighting an upcoming one-day workshop being offered through the Chicago American Statistical Association at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business on longitudinal analysis.  If you are aware of other upcoming courses, please send them our way.   

• Friday, March 20 Short Course on Longitudinal Data Analysis
  https://s07.123signup.com/servlet/SignUp?PG=1531573182300&P=153157300