CONTEXT:
The Panmure House Prize Panel is calling for research proposals for the Panmure House Prize. Panmure House is the final remaining home of Adam Smith and is now a 21st century centre for social and economic debate and research, managed under the stewardship of Edinburgh Business School and Heriot-Watt University in the UK. Founded in 1821 with a rich heritage of pioneering research informed by the global needs of business and industry, today, Heriot-Watt University is known for its focus on innovation, especially in the area of the zero-carbon economy. FCLTGlobal, a US-based non-profit with the mission of rebalancing capital markets to support a long-term, sustainable economy, is the Research Partner for the Prize. Together, the Panmure House Prize Panel, Heriot-Watt University, and FCLTGlobal will select appropriate recipients for the prize, which has been generously funded by Baillie Gifford.
In his seminal work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith defined capital as, "that part of man's stock which he expects to afford him revenue." Companies and investors deploy capital with a clear expectation that their investments will generate revenue in the future. But radical innovation often takes many years and requires both patience and long-horizon funding before revenue is generated. Despite this awareness of the need for long-term funding, many companies and investors fail to maintain a commitment to long-horizon investments.
The Panmure House Prize Panel will award USD75,000 for the best research proposal on the topic of long-term funding of innovation in the spirit of Adam Smith. Recipient(s) of the Prize will be expected to present their work to a convening of the Panel and other relevant parties at Panmure House in Edinburgh in July 2022 (subject to global health conditions), at which time the following year’s prize recipient will be announced. This convening will provide an opportunity for coverage of the research in national and international media outlets.
The Panmure Prize Patron is Sir Angus Deaton, FBA, PhD, Nobel Prize winner, Senior Scholar and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University.
SPECIFICATIONS FOR SUBMISSION:
Projects should explore a critical question pertaining to the issue of long-term investing to fund innovation.
Applicants
- We welcome post-docs and junior faculty from traditional and non-traditional finance backgrounds
- Applications from tenured faculty are welcome should they be done in partnership with junior faculty or post-doc member(s)
- Submissions on behalf of individuals (not affiliated with an academic institution) will not be considered
Timeline
- The deadline for submitting proposals is 23.59 (BST) 15 April 2021
- The Prize will be awarded in July 2021
- Research should be completed within twelve months following the prize’s awarding
- The presentation of the completed research will take place at Panmure House in July 2022
Requirements
- Project proposals should not exceed 3000 words, plus the CVs of applicant(s)
- Final research output should be appropriate for a leading peer-reviewed journal
- Project proposals and final research output should be written in English
CRITERIA ON WHICH SUBMISSION WILL BE EVALUATED:
Proposals will be short-listed by members of FCLTGlobal’s research team and Panmure House staff. Short-listed submissions will then be judged by the Panmure House Prize Panel, a distinguished global panel of expert judges.
Preference will be given to proposals that will have an actionable impact on creating long-term innovation funding systems or mechanisms, shifting significant funding towards long-horizon innovation, and/or contributing to thought-leadership in support of long-term investing to fund innovation. Please note that the Panel encourages submissions from universities in developing as well as developed countries.
A rough guideline below shows the assessment criteria:
- Criticality of Research Question to Funding Innovation
- Awareness of Relevant Literature and Originality of Contribution
- Feasibility of Project
- Qualification of Team Members
- Potential Impact—practical implications on investing in innovation
HOW TO APPLY:
For this call, please submit your proposal through this form. Following the submission of an application, further details and clarification will be provided regarding next steps.
QUESTIONS:
For general questions please contact Devin Weiss at devin.weiss@fcltglobal.org. If you have any further questions about the aim and scope of these proposals, please contact FCLTGlobal’s Managing Director and Head of Research, Ariel Babcock, at ariel.babcock@fcltglobal.org.
To contact Panmure House please send enquiries to the attention of Natasha Ashley, Programme Executive of Panmure House, at n.ashley@hw.ac.uk.
THE PANMURE HOUSE PRIZE PANEL:
James Anderson, Panmure Prize Panel Chair, Partner at Baillie Gifford and Joint Manager of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust
Dominic Barton, Ambassador of Canada to China, Chancellor of the University of Waterloo, Global Managing Partner Emeritus of McKinsey & Company
Afsaneh Beschloss, Founder & CEO of RockCreek
William Janeway, CBE, PhD, Member of Faculty of Economics at University of Cambridge and Special Limited Partner, Warburg Pincus
John Kay, CBE, FRSE, FBA, FAcSS, former Dean of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Heather McGregor, CBE, PhD, Executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School, the School of Business at Heriot Watt University
Hiro Mizuno, UN Special Envoy on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments and former CIO of Government Pension Investment Fund (Japan)
Renosi Mokate, PhD, Executive Chair at Concentric Alliance (Pty) Ltd, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Government Employees Pension Fund (South Africa), Member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (South Africa)
Nitin Nohria, PhD, 10th Dean of Harvard Business School
Adrian Orr, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
David Pitt-Watson, Fellow of Cambridge Judge Business School, Co-founder Hermes Focus Funds/EOS, Former Chair UN Environment Finance Initiative
David Teece, PhD, Thomas W. Tush Professor in Global Business, Faculty Director, Tusher Center for The Management of Intellectual Capital at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley
Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, FICRS, FNIMN, MCIBS, a member of the S&P Global Sustainable Finance Scientific Council, and Head of Sustainability at Access Bank Group
Sarah Keohane Williamson, CAIA, CFA, CEO of FCLTGlobal
Commonly Asked Questions
23.59 (BST) 15 April 2021.
No, you do not have to be academic faculty but you must be affiliated with an academic institution.
Junior faculty may be also be referred to as ‘early career academics'. Applicants should be in their first 5 years after the completion of their PhD.
Yes, we consider proposals from PhD candidates and we welcome applications from PhD students working with tenured faculty.
The money will be paid directly to the institution with which the winner is affiliated with. The institution will deploy it as agreed with the principal investigator, and as fully agreed within the Institutional Agreement.
We expect the recipient to keep judicious notes of where capital has been allocated. Money can be used to cover any expenses directly related to conducting the proposed research project. This includes, but not limited to:
-
- costs associated with procuring data
- costs associated with technology infrastructure
- costs associated with hiring assistants to help with data analysis
Costs associated to expenses procured that are not directly related to the research process, i.e. brick & mortar rental payments, are outside of the scope.
Yes.
No. Estates and indirect costs are not eligible to be covered or claimed against the Panmure House Prize.
Yes.
We will tally the exact amount in GBP via a standard USD/ GBP conversion in July 2021.