On 31 May, the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) selected the paper “Designing plans for organizational development, lessons from three large-scale SME-initiatives” as the IIE’s 2009 Best Track Paper in Engineering Management.

The article was  a collaborative effort between UNU-MERIT and the Kizok Institute of Hasselt University. It came forth out of the comprehensive UNU-MERIT project on Strategic Innovation. Guided by the awarded paper writers,  UNU-MERIT research fellows Raf Sluismans, Tinne Lommelen and Friso den Hertog, this project supported the strategy development of 650 small and medium firms in the Meuse-Rhine Euregion and generated a large amount of data.

The paper sets out a balanced design and development in three specific case projects in order to contribute to creating and accumulating knowledge that is both relevant to practitioners and academics.