Seven years of the ICSB‐IJGE‐NWBC Best Paper Award for women's entrepreneurship research: What have we learned?

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to offer a brief history of the International Council for Small Business‐International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship‐National Women's Business Council (ICSB‐IJGE‐NWBC) Best Paper Award for Women's Enterprise Development. The award has a unique requirement for papers to focus, in an integral way, on practical outcomes and implications for policy and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

Seven years on, the authors consider what has been learned from this award process and from the insights uncovered in the winning papers.

Findings

The collaboration to focus on women's enterprise development research is a success. Interest in the award is growing and the share of women's enterprise‐focused papers that contain a focus on policy and/or practice is on the rise. Subject matter and geographic focus of the papers is wide‐ranging. However, more work needs to be done to increase communication about the award itself and about the lessons learned from the research receiving the award recognition. Practitioners are urged to join academics in sharing their work in women's enterprise development and policy. Such collaborations build the essential bridges needed to maximize the power of research and education to inform and shape policy and practice.

Originality/value

The ICSB‐IJGE‐NWBC Best Paper Award is the only one of its kind in the world.

Citation

Weeks, J.R. and Duffy, S.G. (2011), "Seven years of the ICSB‐IJGE‐NWBC Best Paper Award for women's entrepreneurship research: What have we learned?", International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 79-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/17566261111115006