The 2026 Platform Leaders Academic Prize: meet the three finalists

Since 2020, the Platform Leaders community has brought together practitioners, policymakers, investors and academics who do not always speak the same language, but who are collectively shaping the future of digital platforms.

The Platform Leaders Academic Prize is a practical expression of that mission. It recognises academic research that combines genuine rigour with real relevance for practitioners. As in previous years, the papers were shortlisted with the help of our friends at Platform Papers. A practitioner jury will select the winner based on the practical implications of the research and its real world relevance and applicability.

The three finalists selected this year each take a hard question that many platform leaders face, and bring evidence to it.

Antitrust Platform Regulation and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from China

Ke Rong, D. Daniel Sokol, Di Zhou and Feng Zhu. Management Science, 2025.

The first clean causal evidence that a sweeping platform-antitrust crackdown in China chilled, rather than freed, the start-ups and investment around the regulated firms. Timely reading as the EU’s Digital Markets Act and the CMA’s new powers come into force. Read the paper in Management Science.

Growing Platforms by Adding Complementors Without a Contract

Raveesh Mayya and Zhuoxin Li. Information Systems Research, 2024.

The striking Grubhub case of roughly 150,000 restaurants listed without their knowledge, and why California’s well-meaning ban on the practice ended up hurting the very small, independent restaurants it set out to protect. Read the paper in Information Systems Research.

Monetizing Platforms: An Empirical Analysis of Supply and Demand Responses to Entry Costs in Two-Sided Markets

Kai Zhu, Qiaoni Shi and Shrabastee Banerjee. Management Science, 2025.

Using data from Goodreads, it quantifies the real cost of charging creators to take part: more revenue in the short term, but less variety, more concentration and weaker matching over time. Read the paper in Management Science.

The winner, announced in November

Congratulations to all three finalists, and our thanks again to Platform Papers for their help with the pre-selection. The winning paper will be announced at our next hybrid Platform Leaders event in London at Digital Catapult on 26 November 2026, alongside a short video summarising the winning research and its practical implications.

The Academic Prize reflects what Platform Leaders is for: turning the best platform research into insight that practitioners can use. Visit the Platform Leaders website to explore more, and sign up to discover who wins in November.

To watch the full June 2026 event, you can play the video below.