The School’s community has received numerous international accolades for its research and impact, covering areas such as artificial intelligence, venture capital, organisational processes, strategy, and supply chain management.

POLIMI School of Management made its mark at the 2026 Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting, one of the world’s leading events for management research. This year’s meeting in Philadelphia brought together thousands of academics, researchers, and professionals from around the globe.

Several faculty members received awards in recognition of their academic contributions to some of the key themes driving the evolution of management, including artificial intelligence, venture capital, work organization, strategy and the impact of research on society.

Four papers involving POLIMI School of Management researchers were selected as Best Papers at the Annual Meeting — a distinction reserved for the top 10 per cent of accepted contributions — and will be published in an abridged version in the 2026 Academy of Management Proceedings.

Two of the papers explore the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and innovation. “Artificial Intelligence and External Knowledge Search for Innovation”, by Mattia Pedota and Paolo Carioli of Copenhagen Business School, analyses how AI can help firms capitalize on knowledge from external partners. “Corporate Knowledge and Investments in AI Startups”, by Benedetta Montanaro and Mattia Pedota, explores the role of technological expertise in corporate venture capital strategies targeting AI start-ups.

The role of venture capital in the organisational development of start-ups is the focus of  “Venture Capital and Start-up Organisations: New Evidence from Individual-Level Data” by Massimo G. Colombo, Benedetta Montanaro and Chenan Zhong. The paper highlights how the entry of investors can coincide with the strengthening of management teams and the specialization of organisational functions.

Finally, “Physiological Arousal and Verbal Behaviours During Conflicts in Teams: An Exploratory Field Study”, by Lara Carminati, Desirée Van Dun and Maurizio Mauri, explores the relationship between physiological responses and verbal behaviors during team conflicts, thereby contributing to our understanding of interpersonal dynamics in organisational contexts.

Marco Mandolfo, Matthias Klumpp, Sajjad Shooshtari, Charles Corbett and Dominic Loske received the Best Student Paper Award for “Some Like It Loud: Investigating the Effects of Occupational Noise Exposure on Human Perceptual and Physiological Responses Impacting Worker Performance”. This study investigates how noise exposure in the workplace affects people’s perceptual and physiological responses, as well as their performance.

Stefano Magistretti, alongside Silvia Sanasi and Nico Klenner, was presented with a further award for “Speaking the Future into Being: Rhetorical Work in Entrepreneurial Future-Making”. The paper received the Pushing the Boundary Award from the Strategizing Activities and Practices Interest Group in recognition of its contribution to developing new perspectives in strategy research.

The AOM 2026 awards also include the Academy of Management Perspectives Decade Award, which was presented to Josip Kotlar, Federico Frattini, Alfredo De Massis, Antonio Messeni Petruzzelli and Mike Wright for their article, “Innovation through Tradition: Lessons from Innovative Family Businesses and Directions for Future Research”. This award recognizes the contribution and scientific impact that the work has generated ten years after its publication. The article demonstrates how drawing on the knowledge and practices of the past can become a resource for innovation in family businesses.

To round off the list of awards, Hakan Karaosman received the Community Impact & Engagement Award from the Journal of Supply Chain Management for Impact Conversations, an initiative dedicated to fostering dialogue between academic research, managerial practice, and society on issues related to supply chain management. The award recognizes the ability to translate research into accessible knowledge, stimulate discussion, and build connections with communities and stakeholders outside the academic world.

Collectively, the awards received at the 2026 Academy of Management Annual Meeting confirm the quality and international relevance of the research conducted by POLIMI School of Management. They highlight its contribution to advancing knowledge and its capacity to influence the scientific community and wider society.