IMD and EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland to host 30th annual Babson College Entrepreneurship Research

May 4, 2010 - PRLog -- The 30th annual Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (BCERC), co-sponsored by IMD, a top-ranked business school based in Switzerland, and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), is scheduled for June 9 - 12, 2010, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The BCERC, widely considered the premier conference for entrepreneurship research, was established in 1981 to provide a dynamic venue where academics and real-world practitioners link theory and practice, and to encourage and increase quality research in entrepreneurship.

The 2010 Call for Papers received 710 abstracts from 47 countries and, of these, the conference is delighted to welcome researchers presenting papers from 29 countries.

In addition to the conference, and hosted in conjunction with the BCERC since 1985, Babson College will hold the 2010 BCERC Doctoral Consortium Program. The Doctoral Consortium provides doctoral students with the opportunity to gain insight into current research issues through intense interaction with consortium faculty, and seeks to encourage scholars and educators to become leaders in the field of entrepreneurship education. The ’10 Doctoral Consortium received 82 applications from 22 countries for 25 accepted applications. On Friday evening, June 12th, the BCERC Award sponsors will present the Best Paper Awards to the authors whose papers were selected for publication in the 2009 issue of Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research contains the proceedings of the conference and is the most comprehensive collection of empirical research papers on entrepreneurship, representing institutions from around the globe. The BCERC is grateful to the sponsors who will be presenting the Best Paper Awards:

· The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Award, on the general topic of Entrepreneurship. NFIB has been sponsoring the Award since 1997.

· The Stevens Institute of Technology Wesley J. Howe Award, for the best paper on the topic of Corporate Entrepreneurship. The Stevens Institute has been a sponsor of the BCERC since 2001.

· The Lewis Institute Award at Babson College for the best paper on Social Entrepreneurship and the Babson College Irene M. McCarthy Award for the best paper on the topic of High Technology.

The BCERC, IMD and EPFL are honored and proud of our sponsors:

· Vale, the research & development partner of EPFL, is a diversified global mining company that discovers and transforms mineral resources into the essential ingredients of people's everyday lives. Vale in Switzerland is a business center that contributes to the group internationalization process. Headquartered in Brazil, Vale employs a global workforce of 60,000 people. The mining operations, research facilities, projects and offices extend across 30 countries.

· The Innovation Promotion Agency CTI is the Swiss Confederation's innovation promotion agency. For the past 60 years, it has fostered knowledge and technology transfer between companies and universities by bringing them together as partners on applied research and development projects. CTI also provides assistance in training and coaching of start-up companies.

· Nestlé Nespresso SA, the worldwide pioneer and market leader in highest-quality premium portioned coffee, introduces consumers to the world's finest Grand Cru coffees to be enjoyed in the comfort of their own homes and savored outside the home.

· Novartis Venture Fund, a venture capital fund of Swiss Pharmaceutical giant Novartis, is a 100 million Swiss franc fund supporting new business projects that show exemplary entrepreneurial and innovative spirit in future-oriented areas, especially in the fields of life sciences and new technologies.

· Caran d’Ache, Maison de Haute Ecriture, is the sole Swiss manufacturer of fine art products and luxury writing instruments, in Geneva since 1915. Swiss made quality and life-time guarantee are pillars of its development.

· Edward Elgar was founded in 1986 with offices in England and in Northampton, Massachusetts. They have successfully created a prestigious list with over 4000 titles in print, publishing over 250 new books a year.

About

Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., is recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education. Babson grants BS degrees through its innovative undergraduate program, and grants MBA and custom MS and MBA degrees through the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Babson Executive Education offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide. For information, visit www.babson.edu.

Based in Switzerland, IMD is consistently top-ranked among business schools worldwide. With more than 60 years’ experience, IMD takes a real world, real learning approach to executive education. IMD offers pioneering and collaborative solutions to address clients’ challenges. Our perspective is international – we understand the complexity of the global environment. Real-impact executive learning and leadership development at IMD enables participants to learn more, deliver more and be more. (www.imd.ch).

EPFL is one of the world’s leading universities in technology and science, renowned for its innovations in research and learning. It is currently ranked number one in Europe alongside Cambridge in the fields of Engineering Technology and Computer Sciences. The campus, on a site overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps, brings together over 4,000 researchers, and 7,000 students, who work in a highly collaborative environment with international experts in engineering, science and industry.

The 31st, annual BCERC will be co-hosted by:

Syracuse University, The Whitman School of Business, in Syracuse, New York, USA, and June 8-11, 2011.

The Whitman School of Management continues to be ranked among the nation’s top business programs. US News and World Report ranked Whitman’s undergraduate program 38th in the nation and Bloomberg BusinessWeek ranked the same program as 47th in the nation. US News and World Report ranked our MBA program among the top 10 percent of the nation’s business graduate programs. The Whitman Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises program has been ranked nationwide by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneur magazine/The Princeton Review; Fortune Small Business; and US News & World Report. For more information, visit www.whitman.syr.edu.

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Based in Switzerland, IMD is consistently top-ranked among business schools worldwide. With more than 60 years’ experience, IMD takes a real world, real learning approach to executive education. IMD offers pioneering and collaborative solutions to address clients’ challenges. Our perspective is international – we understand the complexity of the global environment. Real-impact executive learning and leadership development at IMD enables participants to learn more, deliver more and be more.