University Professor and Director: Center for Entrepreneurship and Public Policy (CEPP), George Mason University, USA
Education
- Ph.D., Graduate Faculty, The New School for Social Research. Fields: Economic Theory and Industrial Organization, 1980
- Recent Developments in Applied Economics, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, 1979
- M.A. in Political Economy, The New School for Social Research, Area of Concentration: International Trade and Comparative Economic Systems. 1974
- B.A. in Economics, Cum Laude, Cleveland State University, 1972
Research Interests
entrepreneurship, innovation
Awards and Honors
- Wilford White Fellow Award 2015,
- International Council for Small Business, Washington D.C. Runner up for the 2014
- Three Luminaries Award for George Washington University and the International Council for Small Business. Why Philanthropy Matters: Finalist for the Academy of Management’s George R. Terry Book Award for the best book in management in 2014.
- Outside Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since January, 2013.
- Founder and Director, Eurasia Circle for Cultural Understanding and Prosperity (EC-CUP), Budapest, Hungary. Entrepreneurship Fellow and Member of the Board, World Entrepreneurship Forum, Lyon, France. Affiliate Member, Sloan Industry Studies Program, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Inc. “Doctor Honoris Causa,” Faculty of Economics, University of Pecs, Hungary, November 2006.
- Winner of the 2003-2004 Black and Decker Research Award, University of Baltimore.
- Winner of the best paper at the 2002 Babson-Kauffman Research Conference, Babson College with Catherine Armington, June 2002.
- Recipient of the 2001 International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research awarded on behalf of The Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development.
- Invited to deliver the by-annual 1994 F. De Vries Lecture in Economics at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, March 1994.
Biography
Zoltan J. Acs is Professor at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, Visiting Professor at Imperial College Business School in London and affiliated with the University of Pecs in Hungary.
Previously he was a Research Scholar and co-founder of the group Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, at the Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany, served as Research Fellow at the U. S. Bureau of the Census, Chief Economist at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Associate Director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at the University of Maryland, Research Fellow at the Science Center Berlin (WZB), Research Associate at the Institute on Western Europe at Columbia University and Scholar-in-Residence at the Kauffman Foundation.
Dr. Acs holds a Ph.D in economics from the New School for Social Research in New York City and is a leading advocate of the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation for economic development. His research cuts across disciplines and has appeared in the American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Kyklos, Journal of Urban Economics, Economica, Research Policy, Regional Studies, JBV, SEJ, and Science Policy. His most recent book Why Philanthropy Matters: How the wealthy give, and what it means for our economic well-being, was published by Princeton University Press.
Along with Dr. Laszlo Szerb he is the founder of the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) that is the first tool to track entrepreneurship, institutions and economic development in the global economy. He is also founder and coeditor with David Audretsch of Small Business Economics a leading academic journal.
He received the 2001 International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research on behalf of The Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Pecs and is a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.