Best Research-in-Progress Paper Award at IECER 2026

What if you could watch yourself deliver the perfect pitch before you ever step on stage? That question is at the heart of a research project at our institute, and it has now earned international recognition.

In early September, Diana Lauer travelled to southern Italy for the 24th Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship Research (IECER), hosted by the University of Foggia. There she presented the paper "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How Training with an Enhanced AI Self-Avatar Improves Pitch Performance via Self-Regulated Learning", co-authored with Dorothee Horváth and Nikolaus Franke. The paper is part of Diana's dissertation project at the institute. The study shows how training with an AI-generated, enhanced version of oneself can help entrepreneurs improve their pitches. The jury was convinced and the team received the conference's Best Research-in-Progress Paper Award.

Sharing our research at international conferences is an essential part of our work as researchers. It is where ideas are tested, challenged and sharpened in discussion with colleagues from around the world, and where new collaborations begin. "Presenting at a conference is always exciting, and it's a real challenge to capture people's attention in a short pitch and make your research easy to understand," says Diana. "That's why I'm so happy that the jury recognised the relevance of my work."

Congratulations to Diana, Dorothee and Nikolaus!