Annual International Conference on Real Options: Theory Meets Practice

The Annual International Conference on Real Options, 
Corporate Finance, Innovation and Strategy

AIM

To bring together academics and practitioners at the forefront of real options and investment under uncertainty to discuss recent developments and applications. The conference features academic and professional presentations of theoretical and applied work, workshops and case discussions, experiences from the field and panel discussions.

TOPICS

Any paper on the theory or application of real options. Possible topics include: R&D and new product development, entrepreneurship and innovation, infrastructure and network (telecom, power) investments, valuation of natural resources, power investments, energy & renewables, growth options, competition and strategy, corporate valuation and IPOs, investments involving learning, agency issues and incentives, environment and public policy, case studies etc. We expect to have sessions on oil/ energy, innovation, and various public policy issues. We are generally interested in applied or empirical papers and case studies in these and various other industries.

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

2024 Andrea Gamba (University of Warwick)
2023 Robert Pindyck (MIT) 2021 Erwan Morellec (Swiss Finance Institute)
2020 Conference Cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic
2019 Christoph Loch (U. Cambridge)
2018 Arnd Huchzermeier (WHU)
2017 Carliss Baldwin (Harvard U.)
2016 Kunno Huisman (Tilburg University) and Peter Kort (Tilburg University)
2015 Bart Lambrecht (U. Cambridge)
2014 Marco Antonio Guimarães Dias (Petrobras and PUC Rio)
2013 Lenos Trigeorgis (U. Cyprus & King's College London)
2012 Avinash Dixit (Princeton U.)
2011 Dean Paxson (Manchester U.)
2010 John Kensinger (U. N. Texas)
2008 Tom Copeland (MIT)
2007 Mark Rubinstein (UC Berkeley)
2006 Robert C. Merton (Harvard U.)
2005 Robert S. Pindyck (MIT)
2004 Stewart C. Myers (MIT)
2003 Alex Triantis (U. Maryland)
2002 Gordon Sick (U. Calgary)
2001 Eduardo Schwartz (UCLA)
2000 Myron Scholes (Stanford U.)
1999 Stephen A. Ross (MIT)
1998 Robert L. McDonald (Northwestern U.)
1997 Michael J. Brennan (UCLA)

SUBMISSION and PAPER MANAGEMENT

The paper submission deadline is March 4, 2024. Please use the Paper Management link to submit and subsequently make sure your paper is up-to-date.

  • The title page should include the affiliation, address, phone, and e-mail of each author, as well as the date of that version of the paper.
  • Please capitalize the first letter of the first word of your Paper Title, but no other words, unless they are acronyms or proper names of people, countries, etc. 
  • Please limit your Abstract to 250 words. 
  • Please review the entire form before starting to fill it out, to ensure you have all the required information. 
  • Select all topics that are relevant for your paper, since this will help us develop a program of cohesive themes. 
  • If you are submitting an "Extended Abstract", please submit it as a PDF file that is as complete as you gone so far for the project. As with any other paper, fill out the Abstract field with a brief abstract, rather than your full extended abstract.
  • You can replace your file with an updated version at any time up until the conference (using your ID on the same submission/management page). You may also change author details at he same place. 

SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

There will be a special issue of the Journal of Economics and Business devoted to latest developments in real options and investment under uncertainty with a submission deadline in September 2024. Papers which are selected to participate at this Conference may be considered for publication in the journal (following a standard review process) by ticking the relevant box in choosing topics when submitting the paper via the conference website. By doing so, the evaluation and comments given by the conference review committee on the paper will substitute for the second journal referee, thus streamlining the process. A call for papers for the special issue will be announced in March by the journal.

BEST STUDENT PAPER AWARD

Submissions for best papers by Ph.D. students are encouraged. Interested students should submit a complete draft via the Real Options Conference Website by the same deadline and indicate they wish to be considered for the best student paper award. Papers should be no more than thirty pages in length and be written only by the student or at most co-authored with a single supervisor. Submissions will be assessed by a panel. In advance of the conference, authors of the top three papers will be notified and asked to present their work in a special session during the conference. The winner of the best student paper will be announced during the conference and receive an award of €400.

REVIEW COMMITTEE

Submitted papers will be reviewed by a committee headed by Submitted papers will be reviewed by a committee headed by Professors Luiz Brandao (PUC/Rio, Brazil and U. Texas at Austin, USA), Marco Dias (PUC/Rio, Brazil), Stein-Erik Fleten (NTNU, Norway), Kuno Huisman (Tilburg U., Netherlands), Peter Kort (Tilburg U., Netherlands & U. Antwerp, Belgium), Yuri Lawryshyn (U. Toronto, Canada), Dean Paxson (U. Manchester, UK), Paulo Pereira (U. Porto, Portugal), Gordon Sick (U. Calgary, Canada), Afzal Siddiqui (Stockholm U., Sweden), Ryuta Takashima (Tokyo U. of Science, Japan), Lenos Trigeorgis (Durham U., UK), Andrianos Tsekrekos (AUEB, Greece), and Motoh Tsujimura (Doshisha U., Japan).

DISCUSSANT RESPONSIBILITY

Submission of a paper is with the understanding that one of the (co)authors will present and serve as a discussant. Each academic paper will be discussed by a discussant.

REGISTRATION FEES

€540 by May 24; €650 thereafter. Fees go up by 20% after May 24.

VENUE

The conference will take place at the historical Villa Guastavillani campus of the University of Bologna Business School in Bologna, Italy. This elegant historical villa is decorated with frescoes from the 15th century immersed in the green of its immaculate gardens. The University of Bologna, founded in 1088, is the oldest university in the world (operating continuously) and is the first degree-awarding institution of higher learning. Known as the learned city and for its rich history (since the Etruscans in 6th century BC), Bologna is famous for its rich cuisine as well as for its towers, churches, red tiled roof tops and lengthy porticoes (a Unesco World Heritage Site) decorating its well-preserved historical centre. Bologna was also recently named the best city in Italy for overall quality of life.

NOTIFICATION & INQUIRIES

Please address all registration and other conference-related inquiries to Evgenia at conference.registration@realoptions.org. For local inquiries and logistics, please contact Francesco Baldi at f.baldi@unibo.it

ORGANIZERS

Lenos Trigeorgis (Durham U. & ROG) 
Francesco Baldi, Sandro Sandri and Emanuele Bajo (U. of Bologna)
VP Program: Gordon Sick (U. Calgary).

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