In 2008, Ashkan Pouya published together with his colleague Saeid Esmaeilzadeh the paper "Phantom innovation- a launching pad for innovation processes" that explores the non-linearity of innovation processes.
In 2008 the duo received first prize "Best Student Paper" for their publication "Phantom Innovations-a launching pad for innovation processes" at the ISPIM Conference (The International Society for Professional Innovation Management) Innovations symposium in Singapore.