Press Releases

First Canadians to Win Prestigious Award

ANCASTER, ONTARIO, CANADA -October 18, 2000-Product Development Institute's Dr. Robert G. Cooper and Dr. Scott J. Edgett, together with their colleague Elko J. Kleinschmidt, have become the first Canadians to win a prestigious "Best Paper" award from the international Journal of Product Innovation Management. Cooper, Edgett and Kleinschmidt received the prize at the 24th annual conference of the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) in New Orleans October 12. A group of peers voted to give the 1999 Thomas P. Hustand Best Paper Award to the Canadian trio for their article entitled "New Products Portfolio Management: Practices and Performance". The Journal, a publication of the PDMA, is widely read by academics and practitioners interested in the development of new products. The PDMA annual conferences include sessions for practitioners and academics as a means for making advances in knowledge available to professionals who can put it into practice.

"This award tells us that we are on the right track. We have been working for many years to make our research available, not only to academics in the field, but to the people in the trenches who really need the help," said Cooper upon receiving the award.

"We are proud to be the first Canadians to receive the award, but we are even more proud of the way our work has been accepted world wide by a whole range of professionals in a huge range of disciplines and industries," added Edgett.

Both Cooper and Edgett are prolific authors, with Cooper having authored 3 books, and with Edgett having co-authored two others. Cooper's first book, Winning at New Products, now in its 2nd edition, has sold over 60,000 copies. Cooper and Edgett have published numerous articles in both the academic and trade presses. Their writings and their work with diverse companies is recognized around the world.

About Product Development Institute
Product Development Institute (www.prod-dev.com) is dedicated to helping companies improve their approach to new product development and portfolio management. Led by internationally recognized experts in the field of product development, Drs. Robert Cooper and Scott Edgett, PDI provides executives and managers with a wide range of products and services aimed at improving companies' new product success rates. Cooper and Edgett have worked with more than 800 businesses, including most Fortune 500 companies, and have compiled the largest knowledge base on product development best-practices in the world.

For further information please contact:

Scott J. Edgett
Product Development Institute
Tel: +1 905 304 8798
edgett@prod-dev.com