Recognizing entrepreneurship research excellence
As a tribute to Ewing Marion Kauffman and his entrepreneurial work, the Kauffman Foundation established the Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship in 2005 to inspire promising young scholars to contribute new insight into the field of entrepreneurship. The Medal, which includes a $50,000 prize, is awarded every two years to one scholar under age 40 whose research has made a significant contribution to entrepreneurship.
The inaugural Medal winner was Professor Scott Stern from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He received the award for his enterprising research into the idea marketplace and the development of new market approaches that enable entrepreneurs to better produce and sell their intellectual property.
The 2007 Medal was awarded to Professor Toby Stuart from Harvard Business School. He received the award for his pioneering research into social networks and their effects on entrepreneurship. His work pointed to the dynamics of networking and proved that successful entrepreneurs needed to be perceived positively in their networks.
The 2009 recipient, Antoinette Schoar, Ph.D., is the Michael M. Koerner Associate Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. An expert in corporate finance, entrepreneurship and organizational economics, Schoar researches venture capital, entrepreneurial finance, corporate diversification and governance and capital budgeting decisions in firms. She received the Fellowship of the George Stigler Center, 1997–1999, and the ERP Doctoral Scholarship of the German Ministry of Trade, 1995–1997. Schoar received her doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. She has previously served as assistant professor in finance at the Sloan School of Management at MIT and as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.
The Kauffman Prize Medal depicts Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950), a Czechoslovakian-born American economist known for his theories of the development of capitalism, and Maximilian Weber (1864-1920), a German sociologist and a pioneer on the modern analytical methods of sociology. The reverse side of the medal reads, "In the spirit of Weber and Schumpeter, we celebrate new insight in the field of entrepreneurship, the force that powers American innovation, productivity, and economic prosperity."
The Kauffman Prize Medal is one of three academic recognition programs established by the Kauffman Foundation to aid the Foundation in achieving its goal of building a body of respected entrepreneurship research and making entrepreneurship a highly regarded academic field. The annual Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program, established in 2002, awards up to fifteen grants of $20,000 each to Ph.D., D.B.A., or other doctoral students for the support of dissertations in the area of entrepreneurship. The annual Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship Research, established in 2008, awards up to five grants to junior faculty members who are establishing a record of scholarship and exhibiting the potential to make significant contributions to entrepreneurship research. Each Fellow’s university will receive a grant of $50,000 over two years to support the research activities of the Fellow.