Since the beginning of the 1990s, members of the industry studies community have met at regular conferences. Attendance at the early conferences was limited to scholars from the Sloan Industry Centers, but in 2001 the meetings were opened to provide scholarly exchange among all Industry Studies Affiliates and other interested academics and practitioners. The 2008 Industry Studies Annual Conference will be held in Boston, MA, May 1-2, 2008. For more information, please visit the 2008 Annual Conference Web site.

   Annual Conferences are organized thematically around timely issues of importance to a cross-section of industries. For example, the April 2001 Conference addressed "Corporate Strategies for the Digital Economy," and the Conference in December 2002 was focused primarily on globalization and its consequences, including the new security issues faced by various industries. "Factors of Success for the New Competitive Environment" were explored at the April 2004 Conference. Thematic sessions at the December 2005 Conference addressed innovation and globalization.

   The 2007 Industry Studies Annual Conference was held in Cambridge, MA in April 2007. The Conference featured two plenary sessions focusing on "Globalization and India/China" and "Industries, Regions and Innovation." To learn more about the 2007 Conference program, please visit http://web.mit.edu/sis07/www/index.htm.

    Besides panels of researchers addressing these themes, invited scholarly papers on many different topics were also presented in parallel sessions. These papers are available as Industry Studies Working Papers.

    The industry studies community recognizes the outstanding scholarship of its members at each Annual Conference, awarding prizes for journal publications, books and doctoral dissertations. Industry Studies Affiliates and others interested in learning more about these awards are encouraged to visit the Awards and Prizes section of this Web site for additional information.