Researcher receives the Academy of Management’s 2026 Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award
The Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management honoured Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Friederike Welter (IfM Bonn/University of Siegen) with the 2026 Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award last week at the Academy of Management’s annual conference in Philadelphia. The award is presented to individuals or organisations that, over the duration of their lives or activities, have advanced their academic work and teaching in the field of entrepreneurship in a variety of ways and raised its public profile. It also recognises their efforts to foster communication and collaboration amongst researchers and with policy-makers.
The nomination of Professor Friederike Welter particularly highlighted that the IfM President and Siegen-based professor not only embodies the spirit of commitment that this award honours, but is also a scholar who shapes research, helps to shape policy and actively invests in the next generation of entrepreneurship researchers.
The Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award has been awarded since 1989. Internationally renowned entrepreneurship researchers such as Professor William B. Gartner (Babson College, Wellesley, USA), Professor Candida Brush (Babson College, Wellesley, USA) and Professor Dean A. Shepherd (Notre Dame University, USA) have previously received the award. Professor Friederike Welter is the second German – following Michael Frese (Leuphana University of Lüneburg) – and the fifth woman overall to receive the Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award.
Upon the announcement of the award, Professor Friederike Welter emphasised that conducting academic research into small and medium-sized enterprises has been a passion since her student days. She also emphasised how delighted she is to receive this award: "I have been an enthusiastic member of the AOM Entrepreneurship Division since 2004: the diverse mix of entrepreneurship researchers constantly leads to new ideas and people from whom one can draw inspiration."
Professor Friederike Welter, Member of Academia Europaea (MAE), is the full-time President of the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn. She also holds the Chair of Business Administration, specialising in the management of small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship, at the University of Siegen. For her research into small and medium-sized enterprises, she was recently awarded the Foundational Paper Award by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. In 2023, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow.
