Call For Papers - Deadline Extension (March 1st)
Fifth Annual Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)-Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Conference on Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship

Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth
Max Schanzenbach, Director, Daniel F. Spulber, Research Director

June 2012

The Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth is issuing a call for original research papers to be presented at the Fifth Annual Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The conference will be held at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, IL. The conference will run from approximately 12:00 P.M. on Thursday, June 14th, 2012 to 3:00 P.M. on Friday, June 15th, 2012.

OVERVIEW: The conference is organized by Daniel F. Spulber (Northwestern University). The goal of this conference is to provide a forum where economists and legal scholars can gather together with Northwestern's own distinguished faculty to present and discuss high-quality research relevant to intellectual property (IP) protection, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

This conference will be an important component of the Searle Center's expanded entrepreneurship and innovation focus. Conference participants will explore the connections between IP, innovation, and entrepreneurship through empirical and theoretical economic and legal analysis. This interdisciplinary conference will be composed of presentations by leading researchers in economics and law, and participating authors will have their papers formally discussed by leading thinkers in the field. In addition, the conference will draw audiences of academics in economics, law, and business, as well as legal and business practitioners, government officials, and public policy makers.

TOPICS: Topics will include:
- Intellectual property (IP) law and regulation
- Economics of entrepreneurship
- Relationship of IP to entrepreneurship
- Innovation
- Invention and R&D
- The role of IP in vertical specialization and market entry
- IP as a support in markets for technology
- Entrepreneurship and the theory of the firm
- Entrepreneurship and finance
- Entrepreneurship and industrial organization
- Entrepreneurship and economic growth

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Papers for the conference should be submitted to the following email address: editjems@kellogg.northwestern.edu. Potential attendees should indicate their interest in receiving an invitation at: d-gundersen@law.northwestern.edu

Authors will receive a stipend of $1,500 per paper. The stipend is intended to cover reasonable transportation expenses. Government employees and non-US residents may be reimbursed for travel expenses up to the stipend amount. Authors are expected to attend and participate in the full duration of the conference. If more than one author attends the conference, the honorarium or travel reimbursement will be divided equally between the attending authors. The Searle Center will make hotel reservations and pay for rooms for authors and discussants for the night of Wednesday, June 13th (if needed) and Thursday, June 14th.

REVIEW PROCEDURE AND TIMELINE:
Conference Papers Submission Deadline: Papers for the conference should be submitted to Susie Caruso at the following email address: editjems@kellogg.northwestern.edu by March 1, 2012. This is a submission for the conference (not the journal).

Notification Deadline: Authors will be notified of decisions by March 22, 2012.

Potential attendees or panel members should send a message indicating their interest to: d-gundersen@law.northwestern.edu by June 11, 2012.

The organizers of the conference are planning to develop a conference-related volume for publication either as a special journal issue or an academic press book. Conference participants are free to submit their work for publication in other venues; submission to the Searle conference does not require submission for the conference volume nor does inclusion of the paper in the conference indicate inclusion in the conference-related volume. The conference is organized in cooperation with the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy (JEMS), which is edited by Daniel F. Spulber. JEMS encourages submissions on the economics of entrepreneurship and innovation. Submissions are independent of the conference. Authors presenting papers at the conference need not submit to JEMS and are welcome to publish their work in other venues. To submit to the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, submit the paper on ScholarOne at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jems

Papers prepared for the conference will be permanently hosted on the Searle Center website: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/searlecenter, and we will encourage authors to post to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) Entrepreneurship Research and Policy Network (ERPN) sponsored by Kauffman.

The Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern University School of Law was established in 2006 to research how government regulation and interpretation of laws and regulations by the courts affect business and economic growth. Information on the Searle Center's activities may be found at: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/searlecenter