Sidney Winter advocates evolutionary economy and illustrated this concept with the development of today's smart phones. He joked that perhaps we should thank Benjamin Franklin for these phones because he was important to the modern understanding of electricity. And, said Winter, there were others after him who developed the knowledge needed to develop the smart phones, for example electromagnetism and GPS systems. Until we finally landed in the technology available in today's smart phones.
“Only now do I get to the mention of Steve Jobs, who is arguably the most important Schumpeterian entrepreneur in the story, and to mention the achievements of Apple,” said Winter, arguing that Apple’s accomplishment is to have made the smart phone available to so many around the Globe. In addition he point out all entrepreneurial app developers. “They provide us with the very tasty frosting on the smart phone cake that cumulative causation baked for us over the centuries.”
A trumpet fanfare was played for Sidney Winter as recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. The trumpeters were students from Lilla Akademin, a school for aspiring musicians.
The award ceremony was held at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm. Sidney Winter opened with a prize lecture, which was followed by a panel discussion. Panelists were Maureen McKelvey, Professor at University of Gothenburg, Göran Marklund, Acting Director General, Vinnova, and Magnus Henrekson, IFN. The moderator Pernilla Ström closed the discussion with the question of what the participants learned from Professor Winter’s research and prize lecture.
– The future is uncertain, but [thankfully] people still become entrepreneurs, said Göran Marklund.
– As a researcher Sidney Winter is a great role model. He could have retired but is still working. And he is always curious and interested, explained Maureen McKelvey.
–We should always build on our strengths that are what entrepreneurs do best, explained Magnus Henrekson and added that entrepreneurship is a lengthy story. A successful company is not built overnight.
At the ceremony in Stockholm the following participated: Johan Eklund, Managing Director Entrepreneurship Forum and Professor JIBS, Charlie Karlsson, Professor JIBS and Chairman of the Award Committee and Melker Schörling, Chairman MSAB.
From left: Göran Marklund, Maureen McKelvey and Magnus Henrekson during the panel discussion.