Issue N 11 - May 2004
In this Issue:
INSME's Interviews
About INSME's Interviews
Interview with Italian Venture Capitalist Elserino Piol
Life of the Network
INSME at the II OECD Conference on SMEs (Istanbul, 3-5 June 2004)
Proceedings from the INSME-IKED Roundtable (Helsingborg, 26 February 2004)
News from the INSME Members
IPI-IKED Working Paper on Incubators and Venture Capital
INSME Activities
Launching the First INSME Award - 2005 Edition
Kick-off Meeting for the "FASHION NET" Project (Rome, 17-18 June 2004)
Updates on the INSME-WASME Training Programme in India
Partnerships & Sponsorships
Gate2Growth (G2G) among INSME Partners
Events
Upcoming workshops, seminars, meetings
 

 
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Dear INSMEnews Readers,

the INSME Secretariat is proud to announce that in mid May the INSME Association was granted the OECD's moral sponsorship, as a recognition of INSME's partaking in the so called "Bologna Process" on SME policies. This is already a very positive result for our newly established Association, as it gives prestigious recognition to our activities.
 
Yet we do not rest with this achievement. Raising awareness and implementing Community building is among our priorities in this start-up phase of the Association. Therefore the lobbying activities we are carrying out at international level to enhance INSME's visibility and recognition are well underway: we participated in the last session of the WTO Working Group on Trade and Technology Transfer (WGTTT) and at the seventh session of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology  for Development (CSTD) at UNCTAD, so as to see if more contacts and synergies can be created between INSME and the United Nation system with a view to increasing North-South co-operation and dialogue.
 
The INSME Association is growing stronger in terms of membership as well. It now includes 22 Members: governmental bodies, networks and intermediaries operating in the field of innovation and technology transfer to SMEs, International Organisations and NGOs. In addition the INSME Secretariat is regularly receiving applications from organisations from all over the world. Representation of diverse geographical and political areas is thus growing.
 
Our efforts to provide INSME Members and stakeholders with useful services and information are growing in parallel. In this issue of INSMEnews, besides updating you on the Association's activities, we launch the first of a series of interviews with personalities of the venture capital scene to bring fresh insight about financing innovative enterprises. Other interviews on issues relevant for the INSME Community will follow. Suggestions and expressions of interest in this regard from INSME Members and all INSMEnews readers are welcome from now on.
 
Thanks for your positive feedback so far. Enjoy your reading!
 
 
Simona Marzetti

INSME Association Secretary General

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INSME's Interviews
   About INSME's Interviews

In this issue of INSMEnews we introduce the first of a series of interviews with personalities working in the field of venture capital, that will be published on the INSME portal.

As funding for innovation is viewed as a key issue - not only by SMEs, but also by intermediary organisations and policy makers - and venture capital is an important source of funding for innovative enterprises, there is great demand from these actors for learning how to benefit from venture capital funds.

Through these interviews with practitioners in the field, our objective is to meet this demand. In doing this, we offer a pragmatic approach and try to stimulate debate among concerned policy makers, intermediaries/networks and SMEs (a form is displayed at the end of each interview so that readers can send us comments on the issues tackled in the interview or communicate with the person interviewed).

The first interview is with Italian venture capitalist Mr. Elserino Piol, a well known investor with several years of experience in the field and quite challenging views on how policy makers and intermediaries organisations should work in order to improve the venture capital industry for the benefit of SMEs.

We invite you to read the interview on the INSME portal at:
 http://www.insme.org/

   Interview with Italian Venture Capitalist Elserino Piol

Mr. Elserino PiolMr. Elserino Piol is Chairman and Partner in the Italian-based Pino Ventures Partners (Advisor to the venture capital fund Kiwi I), Chairman of Pino Partecipazioni (Advisor to the venture capital fund Kiwi II) and Chairman of Pino SGR, a newly established venture capital firm that is about to launch a fund targeting Italian high tech companies with good growth prospects. Our editorial staff recently sat down with him to discuss venture capital and its importance for innovation processes.

The interview with Mr. Piol is divided in two parts. In Part 1 we focus on the role of venture capital in innovation systems, the synergies between venture capital firms and intermediaries dealing with innovation (especially university research centres and incubators) and measures that can be adopted to foster public-private partnership in the venture capital sector.

Part 2 sheds some interesting light on how venture capital firms operate and how they make decisions on their investments.

Part 1 is available on the INSME portal at:
 http://www.insme.org/

Part 2 of the interview will be put online at the end of June 2004. Don't miss it!

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Life of the Network
   INSME at the II OECD Conference on SMEs (Istanbul, 3-5 June 2004)

INSME will participate in the Second OECD Conference of Ministers responsible for SMEs which will take place on June 3-6, 2004, in Istanbul (Turkey) and will be focused on Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovative SMEs in a Global Economy.

Different events have been organised in the framework of this conference. Besides the Ministerial Meeting, which is scheduled for June 4-5, a "Business Symposium" (3 June) and a "Global Marketplace" (3-6 June) are foreseen.

A 36 m2 INSME Association stand will be present at this latter event. INSME Members have the opportunity to display their information material at the INSME stand and those Members who will be present at the OECD event may also use this location as a meeting point for bilateral contacts with other delegations, depending on the availability of space. Moreover a 3 minute-INSME promotion video will be displayed at the INSME stand, as well as at the OECD Working Party session on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, on June 2, in the afternoon session open to non OECD economies.

We look forward to meeting you there!

For further information, contact the INSME Secretariat:
Mr. Mariano G. Cordone
 secretariat@insme.it
phone: +39 06 80972.472

Detailed information about the II OECD Ministerial Conference on SMEs are available at: 
 http://www.oecd-istanbul.sme2004.org/ 
 http://www.insme.org/

Information on the Global Marketplace are available at:
 http://www.oecd-istanbul.sme2004.org/market.htm

You can learn more about the Business Symposium at:
 http://www.oecd-istanbul.sme2004.org/symposium.htm

You can also download the draft recommendations for the Business Symposium that the private sector will present to the Ministers attending the OECD Conference on June 4-5:
 English Version
 French Version

   Proceedings from the INSME-IKED Roundtable (Helsingborg, 26 February 2004)

The proceedings from the International Roundtable on "Enabling Growth and Innovation in SMEs", jointly organised by INSME and IKED (International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development) have just been released.

The International Roundtable took place on February 26, 2004, in Helsingborg (Sweden), just after the Second INSME Promoting Committee Meeting (25 February 2004, Malmö, Sweden).

The objectives and themes of the International Roundtable were to identify key factors in sustaining the potential of SMEs facing the challenges of globalisation in the knowledge-based society, and discussing how public and private stakeholders can be motivated to join forces so as to ensure concreteness and sustainability of measures and initiatives that improve the SME environment and the related policy framework.

We thank all participants in the Roundtable for their inputs on these issues.

Download the conclusions of the International Roundtable:
 Proceedings from the INSME-IKED International Roundtable on Enabling Growth and Innovation in SMEs

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News from the INSME Members
   IPI-IKED Working Paper on Incubators and Venture Capital

Synergies between business incubation and venture capital are becoming, more than ever, a key issue for the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship, as new emerging companies are often faced with insufficient access to financial sources preventing them from developing potential innovative and high-growth ideas and businesses.

For this reason, a study group among INSME Members, composed of researchers from the Institute for Industrial Promotion (IPI) and the International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED), has been set up. The project team is founding its research on the preliminary work produced in the on-going INSME Thematic Working Groups on Venture Capital and on Innovative Enterprises, and aims at:

  • Improving the understanding of the relationship and possible synergies between the supply (venture capitalists) and demand (incubators and companies) of innovation finance;
  • Developing sound recommendations and advice for policy makers addressing these issues;
  • Establishing a base for future joint projects in the field.

The current research project is scheduled to last for six months, and the working paper is expected to be released in late 2004.

Data collection is based on a questionnaire that will be distributed to incubator managers and venture capitalists worldwide. If you are interested in participating in this project by providing us with data concerning your organisation and activities, please contact the project officers from IPI and IKED:

 
Mr. Enrico Callegati (IPI)
 callegati@ipi.it
phone: +39 06 80972.477
     
Ms. Glenda Napier (IKED)
 glenda.napier@iked.org
phone : +39 02 43440.203

Your contribution is welcome!

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INSME Activities
   Launching the First INSME Award - 2005 Edition

In a world where international competition for SMEs is increasing, innovation is a key factor to stimulate growth in all economic sectors.

The diffusion of innovation, also through initiatives aimed at giving visibility to innovation leaders, is included in the INSME Association's mission. The INSME Award-First Edition is in line with this goal.

As a matter of fact, the INSME Award has been designed as an international prize assigned biannually in order to acknowledge the success or the importance of activities and initiatives at international, regional, national or sub-national level undertaken by intermediaries or their networks promoting innovation and technology transfer to SMEs.

Innovation for success: Locally adopted, Globally replicable is the main theme for the 2005 award edition. It calls for applications presenting business models, initiatives, programmes or projects which, although implemented on a reduced scale, can be scaled up and/or reapplied in other geographical contexts or different industrial sectors.

The call for applications and the application forms will be available on the INSME portal from June 1, 2004 at:
 http://www.insme.org/

Candidatures can be submitted by 5th November, 2004. A jury made up of international experts will assign the awards in early 2005 on the occasion of the next INSME Meeting.

For further information, please contact the INSME Secretariat:

Ms. Francesca Giannotti 
 giannotti@ipi.it 
Phone: +39 06 80972.519
Fax: +39 06 80972.443

   Kick-off Meeting for the "FASHION NET" Project (Rome, 17-18 June 2004)

Following its official start on May 1, 2004, the FASHION NET Project, the first INSME Pilot Project,  is taking its first steps towards the implementation of its foreseen activities.

As a matter of fact, 8 FASHION NET partners will gather at IPI in Rome on June 17-18 for the kick-off meeting. This will be an occasion to discuss the main technical and financial aspects of the project and co-ordinate actions to be undertaken by each of the partners in the near future.

The project is funded by the 6th Framework Programme for R&D and is mainly aimed at fostering the role of Economic and Technological Intelligence (ETI) among SMEs of the textile and clothing sector in the European Countries involved (6 EU member States: Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Czech Republic, Lithuania; 2 candidate countries: Romania and Turkey).

Moreover, in order to maximise the effects of the project, FASHION NET will be clustered with other 6FP-funded projects (i.e. Shoes5000 project). This clustering offers the opportunity for complementary activities by addressing the same sector. The upcoming kick-off meeting in Rome will also provide an opportunity to launch such joint initiatives, allowing representatives of the different projects to introduce them and discuss about possible new synergies.

For further information, visit the INSME portal at: 
 http://www.insme.org/ 

or contact the INSME Secretariat:

Ms. Silvia Grandi � FASHION NET Project Coordinator
 grandi@ipi.it 
Phone: +39 06 80972.215
Fax: +39 06 80972.443

Read previous editions of INSMEnews on FASHION NET:

  • "FASHION NET", the project proposal presented within the European FP6
    INSMEnews Issue n.2 - June 2003
     http://www.insme.org/
     
  • Good news about "FASHION NET"
    INSMEnews Issue n.4 - September 2003
     http://www.insme.org/
     
  • Clustering between FASHION NET and Shoes5000 projects
    INSMEnews Issue n.8 - January 2004
     http://www.insme.org/
   Updates on the INSME-WASME Training Programme in India

A new brochure for the INSME-WASME International Training on "Management of Innovation and Technology Transfer" has been released. You can download it from the INSME portal:
 Brochure of the INSME-WASME Training Programme

The main trainers of the programme are:

Finally, a new partner is now supporting the programme: the Italian Embassy in New Delhi. Thus a special thank to the 3 institutions that are currently among the partners of the INSME-WASME Training Programme:

For further information on the INSME-WASME Training Programme, visit the INSME portal at:
 http://www.insme.org/ 

You can also contact the INSME Secretariat:

Dr. Pier Francesco Cerritelli
 cerritelli@ipi.it
Phone: +39-06-80972.342
Fax: +39-06-80972.443

The deadline for the reduced fee is approaching. Apply now for the training!

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Partnerships & Sponsorships
   Gate2Growth (G2G) among INSME Partners

The INSME Secretariat has established contacts with representatives of Gate2Growth in order to discuss a potential partnership between the INSME Association and this initiative which is supported by the European Commission under its Innovation/SMEs Programme.

The gate2growth.com aims to support Innovation Professionals in improving their capacity to assist entrepreneurs by fostering networking and the exchange of experience and good practice at European level, an objective which is complementary to INSME's goals.

Tools, infrastructure and support services offered on this portal are especially directed to early stage technology venture capital investors, managers of intermediary organisations such as technology incubators or industrial liaison and technology transfer offices linked to universities and research centres, as well as entrepreneurs.

Advantages for the different categories of users can be viewed at:
 http://www.gate2growth.com/g2g/g2g_invexplanation.asp
 http://www.gate2growth.com/g2g/g2g_spexplanation.asp 
 http://www.gate2growth.com/g2g/g2g_entexplanation.asp

INSME Members will be kept informed about the development of these contacts and the benefits that they can gain from the partnership with Gate2Growth. For further information on how to benefit from this partnership and use G2G services and tools, Members can contact the INSME Secretariat:

Mr. Enrico Callegati
 callegati@ipi.it 
phone: +39 06 80972477

The INSME Association also has partnerships with CORDIS, the LEED Programme, UNIDO Exchange and IM-BOOT.
The full list of INSME Partners and Sponsors is available at:
 http://www.insme.org/

Are you interested in becoming a partner? Contact the INSME Secretariat:

Mr. Mariano G. Cordone
 secretariat@insme.it
phone: +39 06 80972.472

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Events
   Upcoming workshops, seminars, meetings

Here are some interesting upcoming events focused on innovation and technology transfer, SMEs or other issues relevant to the INSME

  1. Consultation Conference on Innovation & SME's
    Organised by the Enterprise Ireland in conjunction with the European Commission
    Dublin, Ireland
    3-4.06.2004

  2. IRC (Innovation Relay Centres) Network Annual Meeting 2004
    Organised by the Innovation Relay Centres Central Unit
    Ms. Silvia Grandi and Ms. Francesca Giannotti from the INSME Secretariat will attend this meeting.
    Vienna, Austria

    07-09.06.2004

  3. 13th Nordic Conference on Small Business Research
    Troms�, Norway
    10-12.06.2004

  4. UNCTAD XI 
    "The Eleventh United Nations Conference on Trade and Development"
    Sao Paulo, Brazil
    13-18.06.2004

  5. Innovation Regions in Europe - Partnership and Economic Cooperation
    Organised within the International Economic Forum at the Fair of Industrial Technologies and Investment Goods
    Poznan, Poland
    14-17.06.2004

  6. 2004 Technology Fair of the Future
    Organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
    Sao Paulo, Brazil
    14-18.06.2004

  7. New Models of Partnerships between Corporate/Industry Leaders and Clusters of Innovative Start-ups and SMEs - A mission for BICs and R&D oriented Incubation Programmes 
    EBN (European Business Network) Annual Congress
    Mr. Mariano G. Cordone from the INSME Secretariat will attend this conference.

    Malaga, Spain
    16-19.06.2004

  8. FASHION NET Project Kick-off Meeting
    Organised by IPI-Institute for Industrial Promotion. Attended by representatives from the following organisations: IPI (Italy); ADEI and AITEX (Spain); ANVAR (France); APRE (Italy); ASINTEC (Spain); CITER (Italy); CLOTEFI and EOMMEX (Greece); IC&D and IFTH (France); INCDTP (Romania); INOTEX (Czech Republic); KOSGEB (Turkey); LATIA (Lithuania) and Tecnotessile (Italy).
    Rome, Italy
    17-18 .06.2004

  9. Successfully Creating Innovative Products and Services: Integrating Academia, Business and Consulting
    XV ISPIM (International Society for Professional Innovation Management) Annual Conference
    Oslo, Norway
    20-23.06.2004

  10. 49th World Conference on "Globalization and its Impact on Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development in the Developing World"
    Organised by the International Council for Small Business
    Johannesburg, South Africa
    20-23.06.2004

  11. Productivity, Innovation, and Value Creation. Exploiting the Opportunities for Faster Growth
    Organised by the Conference Board in partnership with the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs
    Amsterdam, The Nederlands
    22-23.06.2004

  12. Planning and Managing Science Parks: Learning by Sharing
    IASP (International Association of Science Parks) Asia-Pacific Conference on Science Parks
    Bangkok, Thailand
    24-25.06.2004

  13. Conference on the European Charter for Small Enterprises
    Organised by the Irish Presidency and the Enterprise Directorate-General of the European Commission
    Dublin, Ireland
    29-30.06.2004
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For enquiries please contact the INSME Secretariat at secretariat@insme.it
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INSME Secretariat
c/o IPI – Institute for Industrial Promotion
Viale M. Pilsudski, 124
00197 Rome
Italy
Tel. +39-06-80972466
      +39-06-80972484
Fax +39-06-80972443
E-mail: secretariat@insme.it

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20123 Milan - Italy
Tel.: +39 02 43440201
Fax +39 02 43440222
E-mail: webmaster@insme.it

Web sites: www.insme.org | www.ipi.it | www.riditt.it
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