Frankfurt School gives honorary doctorate on Wharton Professor Daniel Levinthal

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management honours Professor Daniel Levinthal for his contributions to organisational
discovering, complicated adaptive systems and method
Levinthal’s research study is amongst the most prominent and most pointed out operate in management research study around the world
Keynote by Daniel Levinthal on the chances and difficulties of artificial intelligence as a basis for organisational
intelligence

Frankfurt am Main, 22 September 2026

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management has actually granted Wharton Professor Daniel Levinthal an honorary doctorate. Business university is honouring his research study on organisational knowing, complex adaptive systems and technique, which has actually affected scientists around the world and has actually influenced generations of scholars. The event happened on 21 September in the existence of visitors from academic community, market and the Frankfurt School neighborhood.

Daniel Levinthal is Reginald H. Jones Professor of Corporate Strategy at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is among the most globally acknowledged scholars in the fields of method and organisation research study. His work concentrates on organisational adjustment and market development, especially in the context of technological modification. He has actually gotten various awards for his research study and mentor, and his scholastic work has actually been mentioned more than 120,000 times. Daniel Levinthal is a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society, the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business. He has actually likewise served, to name a few functions, as Editor-in-Chief of the clinical journals Strategy Science and Organization Science.

Teacher Nils Stieglitz, President and CEO of Frankfurt School, opened the occasion and commemorated Daniel Levinthal’s scholastic work. Teacher Claus Rerup, Professor of Management, and Professor Thorbjørn Knudsen, Professor of Strategic Organisation, provided the laudatory addresses. Following the discussion of the honorary doctorate certificate, Levinthal provided a keynote on the chances and obstacles of artificial intelligence as a basis for organisational intelligence.

“Daniel Levinthal’s research has shaped our understanding of how organisations learn, adapt, and make strategic choices. By awarding him an honorary doctorate, we recognise his exceptional scholarship over four decades. The distinction also reflects the ideas we value and the standards we aspire to at Frankfurt School. His work demonstrates why rigorous theory belongs at the heart of a practically engaged business school. Research does not have to promise easy answers to be useful: it can help leaders ask better questions, examine their assumptions, and develop sound judgement in complex situations,” stated Professor Nils Stieglitz.

“Daniel Levinthal has been central to my development as a scholar. He was my postdoctoral supervisor, and we have since written several articles and book chapters together. What has always struck me is the combination of his extraordinary intellectual rigour with his generosity as a mentor. Dan takes ideas enormously seriously, but never himself. He listens, challenges, and gives others room to develop their own thinking. I have learned from him not only how to become a better scholar, but also what it means to be a generous and humble colleague,” included Professor Claus Rerup.

“In his brilliant and pioneering work on organisational evolution and adaptation, Daniel Levinthal has explained how organisations can shape a future they cannot foresee. His work reveals why the knowledge that made a company’s success can also become a barrier to renewal, and how leaders can give new ideas a chance before markets can judge them. Frankfurt School honours him for transforming our understanding of how firms learn, adapt, and innovate,” Teacher Thorbjørn Knudsen kept in mind.

“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. I have admired, as an outsider to the School, the community of scholars that Frankfurt has built. They have assembled a world class set of researchers asking questions at the forefront of the profession. Thus, for me, it is a very special honor to be linked to the School in this fashion,” stated Professor Daniel Levinthal.

With the difference granted to Daniel Levinthal, Frankfurt School continues a series of unique honours. In 2024, Frankfurt School granted an honorary doctorate to previous United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
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About Frankfurt School of Finance & & Management

Frankfurt School of Finance & & Management is a personal service school certified by AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. The university concentrates on financing, economics and management, and uses Bachelor, Master, MBA and doctoral programs along with executive education courses and workshops for specialists and students. Frankfurt School is frequently put amongst the leading entertainers in significant university rankings. It ranks 31st in the newest Financial Times (FEET) European Business School Ranking and is noted as the finest German service school in the Times Higher Education Global University Employability Ranking. In the most recent UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings Frankfurt School has actually likewise protected the leading position in Germany. In the WirtschaftsWoche university ranking Frankfurt School ranks 3rd amongst all German universities for company administration. A main aspiration of Frankfurt School is to promote entrepreneurship and start-ups, in specific with its Entrepreneurship Centre and the subsidiary Futury as the start-up factory for the Rhine-Main area. Advisory is another crucial pillar of Frankfurt School’s activities. It offers guidance to companies and organisations in emerging and establishing nations, specifically in the field of ESG. In addition to the primary Frankfurt school, Frankfurt School has research study centres in Hamburg, Munich and Dubai and is worldwide gotten in touch with around 150 partner universities. www.frankfurt-school.de

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