Eric Arthur von Hippel

Eric von Hippel has won the National Medal of Science from the Government of Portugal. This medal is the highest distinction the Portuguese Government awards to scientists and is intended “to reward national or foreign individuals who, for their high professional and duty-making qualities, have been distinguished by valuable and exceptional contributions to the development of science or scientific culture in Portugal.”  The four awardees were some of the founding members of the Patient Innovation Advisory Board. von Hippel’s award citation notes: “He is best known for developing the concept of user innovation, that end-users are responsible for a large amount of innovation, which motivated the work developed at Patient Innovation. This medal recognizes his continuous support to the Patient Innovation project from the very beginning.”

The Portuguese Government announced the winners November 3, 2020 in a ceremony in Lisbon, and this recently von Hippel gave a talk online at CIÊNCIA 2020 (National Science Summit 2020).  (An introduction of von Hippel begins at 7:38:58, and his talk (about 24.5 minutes) begins at 7:45:38.)

Eric von Hippel is the recipient of a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. This career-achievement award is granted "to academics whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future." The award honors von Hippel’s groundbreaking research on user innovations and his work fostering international exchange and scientific discussions around user innovation and open source innovation, including initiating the Open and UserInnovation Conference, which is now an internationally acclaimed forum. 

Von Hippel was also awarded an honorary doctorate of economics and social science by the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, a major German technical university, "for his path-breaking contributions in the research area of user innovation and for his tireless efforts to support young researchers in their academic career paths." This is his third honorary doctorate.

International Association of Management of Technology (IAMOT) has recognized Ed Roberts, David Sarnoff Professor of the Management of Technology, and Eric von Hippel, Professor of Management of Innovation, as two of the top 50 authors of technology and innovation management over the last 5 years. This exceptional achievement places Roberts and von Hippel within the top 1% of all researchers in the field.

Eric von Hippel was awarded the Innovation Luminary Award from the European Commission for his “excellent and groundbreaking work in…‘Democratizing Innovation.’” Earlier winners include Stephen Hawking, Richard Branson, and Bill Drayton. von Hippel also received the 2015 Innovative Management Partner (IMP) Excellence in Innovation Research Award from the University of Innsbruck School of Management, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in strategy and innovation.