The partners behind the Award are the founder, Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum (Entreprenörskapsforum), and the sponsors Vinnova and The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). The three organizations are jointly responsible for the Award.
A project group decides upon the administration and furthering of the Award and the various ancillary activities. Entreprenörskapsforum takes responsibility for the marketing and dissemination activities, such as the production of information material and the planning and enactment of the Entrepreneurship Week.
The scientific scrutiny and evaluation of the potential candidates are made by the Prize Committee. When the Prize Committee has decided on a Winner, an essay about the contributions of the Award Winner(s) as well as a publishable Prize Speech are produced for publication in one of the leading journals in this area, the Small Business Economics. The work is coordinated by the project group and the project manager. The project group also has the joint task of developing and maintaining the new website for the Award.
Entreprenörskapsforum
Founder
Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum (Entreprenörskapsforum) is the leading network organization for generating and transferring policy relevant research in the field of entrepreneurship and small enterprise development.
Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum (previously know as FSF) is a network organization with the aim
- to serve as a bridge between the small business research community and all agents active in development of new and small enterprises.
- to initiate and disseminate research relevant to policy in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation and SME.
- to offer entrepreneurship researchers a forum for idea sharing, to build national and international networks in the field and to bridge the gap between research and practical application.
For more information, see https://entreprenorskapsforum.se/en/.
Vinnova
Sponsor
Vinnova (Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) is Sweden’s innovation agency. Vinnova’s mission is to promote sustainable growth by improving the conditions for innovations, as well as funding needs-driven research.
Vinnova’s vision is for Sweden to be a world-leading country in research and innovation, an attractive place in which to invest and conduct business. We promote collaborations between companies, universities, research institutes and the public sector. We do this by stimulating a greater use of research, by making long-term investment in strong research and innovation milieus and by developing catalytic meeting places. Vinnova’s activities also focus on strengthening international cooperation. In order to increase our impact, we are also dedicated to interacting with other research financiers and innovation-promoting organisations.
Every year Vinnova invests about SEK 2 billion in various initiatives. Since co-financing from actors must total at least the same amount, our funds have more than doubled. Funding decisions are made with assistance from national and international experts and there is ongoing monitoring and evaluation of all initiatives. We carry out regular impact analysis to evaluate and draw lessons from the long-term impacts of Vinnova’s efforts.
Vinnova is a Swedish government agency working under the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications and acts as the national contact agency for the EU Framework Programme for R&D. About 200 people work at Vinnova´s offices in Stockholm and Brussels. Vinnova was founded in January 2001.
For more information, see www.vinnova.se/en
The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA)
Sponsor
The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) – a meeting place for Sweden’s future for more than 100 years. IVA brings together expertise and experience from around 1,300 Fellows and 250 companies. Together, we build bridges between academia, business and politics, supporting humanity’s capacity to contribute positively to society through the engineering and economic sciences.
For more information, see www.iva.se/en
Past partners
NUTEK/Tillväxtverket, sponsor 1996–2012
Rune Andersson, donor 2008–2012
Melker Schörling, donor 2012–2015
Stockholms Köpmansklubb, donor 2016–2018
Lars Backsell, donor 2019–2022
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), co-founder 2008–2023