We are pleased to announce the winners of the INSME Award First Edition Innovation for success: Locally adopted, Globally replicable, the international competition launched by the INSME Association in mid 2004.

Many congratulations to:

ICNM - INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR NEW MEDIA (Austria), as winner of Category 1 ( Intermediaries and their networks, legally constituted, at international, regional, national and sub-national level promoting and/or supplying innovation and technology transfer  services to SMEs). ICNM was awarded the first prize for its contribution to the advancement of the multimedia industry through the organisation of several international activities like contests, networking and training initiatives.

SHRIRAM INSTITUTE FOR INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH (India), as winner of Category 2 ( Initiatives, programmes and projects carried out by intermediaries or their networks in the field of innovation and technology transfer to SMEs). The Shriram Institute has developed a new technology for low cost napkins which is turning out to be of great impact to the health and hygiene of rural women in India and is also expected to lead to the creation of jobs in rural areas.

Both organisations will be awarded a trophy and free 12 month INSME Association Full Membership. The Award Ceremony will take place in Barcelona on April 13, 2005, on the occasion of the INSME Annual Meeting. The winners will also be making a presentation on April 14 at the Conference.

For more information on the INSME Award 2005, visit:
 http://www.insme.org

We also thank all other organisations that have taken part in this initiative, as well as the Award Jurors for their collaboration.

We are pleased to announce that the application deadline for the WIPO-INSME International Training Programme on Intellectual Property and Management of Innovation in SMEs (WIPO headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, 11 - 13 May, 2005) has been extended to April 29, 2005. Attendance is for free.

To register, download the appropriate form:
 Application Form (English Version) 
 Application Form (French Version)

Send applications to the INSME Secretariat:
Mr. Mariano G. Cordone
  secretariat@insme.it
Phone: +39 06 80972.472
Fax: +39 06 80972.443

Further information on the WIPO-INSME Training Programme, including accommodation hints, are available on the INSME portal at:
 http://www.insme.org/

Download the draft agenda of the International Training Course on Management of Innovation and Technology Transfer, which will take place at the Federal Investment Council (CFI) headquarters in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on July 5-8, 2005:

 INSME-CFI Training Course Agenda

The course will be co-organised by INSME and the Federal Investment Council - CFI (Argentinean public body) in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
 
A 500 euro participation fee is foreseen. INSME Members and participants from under-developped and developing countries are entitled to a reduced fee of 300 euro.

For further information on the INSME-CFI Training Programme contact the INSME Secretariat:
  secretariat@insme.it

or visit the INSME portal:
 http://www.insme.org/

More details and the registration form will be available in the next weeks.

The Central European Initiative is the largest of the sub-regional co-operation initiatives that have emerged in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the communist system.

Founded by Austria, Italy, Hungary and Yugoslavia in 1989, it has to date a membership of 17 countries (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine).

Since its establishment, CEI has represented a forum for political, economic and cultural co-operation among its Members States. Though its focus has shifted following membership evolution, its primary aim is to bring the countries of Central and Eastern Europe closer together and to the European Union, also assisting them in their preparation process for membership in the EU.

For the implementation of its programmes and projects, CEI operate through 17 Working Groups, dealing with a great variety of issues, from agriculture to youth affairs.

A Working Group is dedicated to Science and Technology and manages the project called from Research to Enterprise, aiming at promoting spin-offs from research.

Another Working Group is dedicated to SMEs, since in the economic transformation of CEI transition countries SMEs have a crucial role both in the privatisation process and in the creation of employment opportunities.

 Overview of SME Working Group's activities within the CEI Region

CEI has an institutional link with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where a CEI trust fund is in progress since 1996, and cooperates with other international organisations and institutions such as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with whom several joint activities have been carried out over the last years within the LEED Programme (OECD's Local Economic and Employment Development Programme).

We are pleased that the CEI Executive Secretariat, based in Trieste, has recently joined the INSME Association.

For further information on CEI and its activities, visit:
 http://www.ceinet.org/

On March 15th, the European Commission published a call for proposals for the identification of new methods for promoting and encouraging transnational technology transfer under the 'Research and Innovation' strand of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).

The instrument specified for this call is the Specific Support Action (SSA), and the indicative budget is 10.5 million euro.

Deadline for submitting proposals is June 15, 2005.

For details on themes and application procedure, download the text of the call: 
 http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=200&CFID=3799947&CFTOKEN=46835994

Prior information notice of a call for tenders for various innovation-related services

The European Commission, Enterprise and Industry DG, Directorate D 'Innovation Policy' has recently published a prior information notice of a call for tenders for various innovation-related services, including:

• Benchmarking of regional innovation policies
• Benchmarking Regional and National Support Services for SMEs in the Field of Intellectual and Industrial Property
• Improved methodology on innovation management consultancy
• Collection, analysis and exploitation of the results obtained from ongoing innovation projects
• Impact assessment study on the effects of off-shoring on the innovation potential of EU companies
• Analysing and evaluating innovation in Community research projects
• Optimising the management of Intellectual Property Rights: an analysis of the costs and benefits for enterprises of IPR protection
• Study on the identification of the European ICT clusters and on the assessment of their impact on the competitiveness of the EU ICT sector

The estimated budget for the entire call is 2.5 million euro.

To see the full details of the call, please visit:
 http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?REQUEST=Seek-Deliver&LANGUAGE=en&DOCID=045720-2005

Prior information notice of a call for tenders for the monitoring and analysis of technology transfer and intellectual property regimes and their use

Estimated budget:
1 300 000 euro

Scheduled start of award procedure: 
1.4.2005

To see the full details of the call:
http://ted.publications.eu.int/

Address from which further information can be obtained: 
European Commission, for the attention of Denis Dambois, square de Meeus 8, B-1050 Brussels. Tel.: 0032-2-2958424. Fax: 0032-2-2994207. E-mail: Denis.Dambois@cec.eu.int

The INSME Secretariat is looking for personalities and experts with a variety of backgrounds but an outstanding professional experience on SME innovation and technology transfer in order to carry out interviews to be published on the INSME portal and newsletter.

Through these interviews with practitioners in the field, INSME's objective is to offer interested readers a pragmatic approach and try to stimulate debate among concerned policy makers, intermediaries/networks and SMEs.

Interviews can be arranged by phone, by e-mail or face-to-face on the occasion of the INSME Annual Meeting in Barcelona.

If you are interested in an interview with INSME, please contact the INSME Secretariat:
� Ms. Francesca Arra
 arra@ipi.it 
Phone: +39.02.43440205
Fax: +39.02.43440222

Read interviews carried out so far at: 
 http://www.insme.org/

If you are a researcher planning your next move in Europe, look here for career opportunities and find relevant information and assistance:

  http://europa.eu.int/eracareers/index_en.cfm

A section of this portal is dedicated to the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, recently adopted by the European Commission in order to give individual researchers the same rights and obligations wherever they may work throughout the EU.

� Technological and non-Technological Innovation: a Challenge for the Fashion Sector in Europe
Valenzano (Bari), Italy - 4 February 2005

Download the conference proceedings at:
 http://www.tno.it/tecno_it/fashion4_2_05/atti.htm (in Italian)

"Fashion Europe" was co-organised by the Italian Institute for Industrial Promotion (IPI), founding Member of INSME, and the Italian Science and Technology Park Tecnopolis CSATA in the framework  the ITE Project (Intelligent Textile Environment, funded within the Sixth Framework Programme) in collaboration with FashionNet.

Subscribe to FN-News, Fashionnet quarterly newsletter:
  info@fashionnet.org

23 March 2005
Gate2Growth Event on Stimulating Innovative Entrepreneurship
Warsaw, Poland

24.03.2005
"Boost Your Business With Innovation"
Round table on innovation in Europe hosted by CORDIS within the 2005 Entrepreneurship Forum taking place in Brussels on 23 and 24 March.
Brussels, Belgium

31 March 2005
2nd Forum on Technology Transfer
"Innovation, Research and Development. The Objectives of Lisbon. Italy and the European Union: Results, Priorities, Perspectives"
Rome, Italy 

06 April 2005
InnoVenture 2005 Conference - Southeastern Innovations with Global Impact
Conference providing a forum for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and industry experts to support the growth of high-impact companies in the Southeastern Innovation Corridor (USA).
Greenville, South Carolina, USA

8-13 April 2005
The Employment, Growth and Social Policies Seminar
Jointly organised by the Lund University's Research Policy Institute (RPI) and Centro de Estudios Europeos (CEE, Centre for European Studies).
La Havana/Varadero, Cuba

10-12 April 2005
OECD-LEED Partner Club and SASME Conference
Co-organised by the Partners Club of the Programme for Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and SASME, the Serbian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Indjija, Serbia

13-15 April 2005
INSME Annual Meeting 2005 - "International Cooperation to Seize Innovation Opportunities for SMEs"
Co-organised by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade and the Spanish Agency CIDEM.
Barcelona, Spain
 
13-15 April 2005
ASTP - Praxis Training Programme - "Fundamentals of Technology Transfer
Organised by the Association of European Science and Technology Transfer Professionals (ASTP) in collaboration with Praxis.
Lisbon, Portugal 

13-14 April 2005
MEDINNOV'2005
Organised by Marseille Innovation, Anima-AFII and their partners of the Mediterranean Network of Technology Business Incubators.
Marseille, France

14-15 April 2005
EARTO Annual Conference 2005
Organised by the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO). The theme of the conference is R2B - Research to Business.
Warsaw, Poland

16-19.04.2005
"Innovation Policy and Management in Changing Asia"
2nd STEPI-ASIALICS International Conference.
Jeju Island, Korea

18-29 April 2005
Training Course on SME Cluster and Network Development: Principles and Practice
"Helping SME Clusters in Developing Countries Meet their Potential in the Globalised Economy"
Organised by UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and ILO (International Labour Organization).
Turin, Italy

20 April 2005
Venture Academy
Gate2Growth Initiative - Highly interactive one-day event where entrepreneurs are prepared for meetings and negotiations with venture capital or corporate investors.
Cambridge, United Kingdom