About the Prize

The Prize and Selection Criteria

What the Henry Chesbrough Prize for Innovation Excellence offers, and how nominated scholars are evaluated.

The Prize

What the Prize offers

Recognition

Recognition by the innovation research community.

Celebration dinner

A celebration dinner with senior scholars and strong networking opportunities, organized in connection with the Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

Additional Support and Benefits

To be revealed closer to the award ceremony.

Selection Criteria

Three criteria

Nominated scholars are evaluated against three criteria, applied to their body of work as a whole.

Scientific and Conceptual Significance

Does the nominated scholar’s work combine strong scientific quality with a novel concept, framework, theory, or perspective that enriches innovation studies and opens promising new lines of inquiry?

Research–Practice Relevance

In the broader spirit of Henry Chesbrough’s contribution, does the work connect rigorous academic insight with meaningful implications for how innovation is managed, governed, or supported in firms, ecosystems, or public institutions?

Future Potential and Developmental Value

Does the work have strong potential for future academic, practical, or policy impact, and would this recognition meaningfully support the scholar’s continued development and contribution to the field?

Who can be nominated

Scholars and their body of work

Nominations are for individual scholars. The body of work supporting a nomination may include papers, books, dissertations and other scholarly contributions, and the nomination should make a compelling argument for how it fulfills these criteria.

Papers

Books

Dissertations

The conference dinner of the 2026 Festschrift in honor of Henry Chesbrough at Luiss Business School, Rome

How it started

The Story Behind the Prize

The Henry Chesbrough Prize was born at the 2026 Festschrift conference in Rome, celebrating Henry’s extraordinary contributions to innovation research and practice. During a dinner at Luiss Business School, David Teece spontaneously announced the creation of the prize together with Marcus Holgersson, Alberto Di Minin, and Joel West, who organized the conference and led its associated special issues.

Building on David’s generous initiative and initial financial support, the idea developed into an award intended not only to honor Henry’s intellectual legacy, but also to recognize and encourage bold new contributions with the potential to shape both innovation research and practice.

Nominations

Know a scholar worth recognizing?

Nominations are now open.

Nominate a Scholar

Open to nominations from academic, practitioner and policy communities worldwide.