24-26 April 2006 Boosting Innovation by Bridging the Knowledge Gap: a Developer-User Approach Montevideo (Uruguay), NH Columbia Hotel www.annualmeeting2006.insme.org

Read the latest updates:
INSME Meeting Flyer (includes agenda for Day 2 and Day 3):
 English Version                                            Spanish Version

Registration forms:
 INSME Members' Registration Form
 INSME non-Members' Registration Form
 Formulario de inscripción para no miembros de INSME

Register online at:
 http://www.annualmeeting2006.insme.org/?pg=Registration

For hotel booking, please contact insme@congresoselis.com.uy.

Participation of delegates from 27 countries of Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East is already confirmed. A hall for stands exhibition and networking and bilateral meetings will also be available.

For further information, please contact the INSME Secretariat:
 insme2006@insme.it

INSME-WIPO Training Course on the the Role of Intellectual Property in Raising Finance by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Partner: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), SMEs Division
Date: 11 -12 July, 2006
Place: WIPO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland 
Tuition Fees: free of charge for anybody
Language: English

INSME-IPI Training Programme on Business Start-ups and Access to Finance for SMEs

Partner: Institute for Industrial Promotion (IPI)
Date: mid November 2006
Place: IPI headquarters, Rome, Italy
Tuition Fees: free of charge for INSME Members; 250 euro for non-OECD countries; 400 euro for any other participant

For information and registration, please contact the INSME Secretariat:
 secretariat@insme.it

Are you interested in partnering with INSME for the co-organisation of future Training Programmes?
� Read what an INSME Training Programme is about:
 http://www.insme.org/
� Contact the INSME Secretariat to make a proposal:
 secretariat@insme.it

Remember: in case you are not yet a Member of the INSME Association or have to renew your annual membership, you will be granted a 1 year free Full Membership as a compensation for your financial commitment in carrying out the joint international training initiative.

The INSME Association is honoured to be invited to be a networking partner of EBN-European BIC Network (Business and Innovation Centres) on the occasion of the upcoming EBN 2006 Congress, "Innovation in Action!, to take place in Naples, Italy on June 28-30, 2006.

This Congress is jointly organised with Citt� della Scienza and Sviluppo Italia Campania.


For information, please contact:


Mr. Philippe Vanrie (EBN Managing Director, Bruxelles)
 pva@ebn.be
Phone: +32 2 772 89 00


Ms. Valeria Fascione (Citt� della Scienza, Naples)
 fascione@cittadellascienza.it
Phone: +39 081 7352111

Established in 1993, INNOVA has 4 branches in Italy (Roma, Gorizia, Bologna, Lecce e Cosenza) and has established new ventures in Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Poland. Moreover, it has a branch in the USA - INNOVA Consulting Group Inc. - located in Boston, which is an observatory for monitoring new technologies.

The company operates in 8 major business areas: Technology Transfer; Evaluation, Review and monitoring of RTD project and EU Programmes; Innovation processes; Technology audit and Valorisation; Technical services for export activities; Training; Technology Benchmarking; Technology Incubator.

Read further about INNOVA's activities and services in these areas at:
 http://www.insme.org/documents/innova_profile_INSME.pdf

INNOVA has recently joined the INSME Association as a Full Member. You can meet INNOVA at the upcoming INSME International Conference in Montevideo, where Mr. Aleardo Furlani (INNOVA's Chief Executive Officer) will participate as a speaker on April 25 with a presentation on Knowledge building, networking and organizational enhancement as key drivers of SMEs innovation process: practical cases and models".

 http://www.innova-eu.net/

The European Commission has published a call for proposals to promote the participation of partners from third countries in projects for which contracts are already signed or under negotiation in priority thematic areas of research.

The call addresses countries in the following regions: Africa; Caribbean; Pacific; Asia; Latin America; Mediterranean; Russia and new independent states; Western Balkans.

The total indicative budget for the call is 20 million euro.

To see the full details of the calls, please refer to:
 http://fp6.cordis.europa.eu.int/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.FP6CallsPage

The deadline for submitting proposal documents is 16 May 2006.

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals related to the organisation of Researchers' Nights 2006", due to take place on September 22.

The main objective of this initiative is to contribute to the reinforcement of public recognition of researchers and their important societal role. The target audience is the public at large. Therefore activities should be planned keeping in mind that they should look sufficiently appealing to mobilise public on a Friday night, traditional time for entertainment before the week-end. They should therefore be foreseen in an informal, pleasant, and attractive way.

Detailed information regarding the specific objective of the Researchers' Nights, the actions that can be planned, specific requirements and evaluation criteria can be found at:
 http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/researchersineurope/index_en.htm

Queries regarding this initiative may also be addressed to: 
 researchersineurope@cec.eu.int 

While preparations are being made to get everything ready for the Second INSME Annual Meeting, the INSME Secretariat is thinking ahead to 2007 and the call for candidatures to co-host and co-organise the Third INSME Annual Meeting.

This will be a 3-day event to be held indicatively in April-May 2007 and will be structured as follows:

Day 1: Meeting of the INSME General Assembly and INSME Board;
Day 2: International Conference on a theme related to SME innovation;
Day 3: Visit to innovation centres in the region; social program (optional).

Don't miss this opportunity to increase your visibility and reputation worldwide! Public and private bodies, both INSME Members and non-Members - with no geographical restrictions - may apply. The selected co-hosting partner will be granted a 1 year free Full Membership in the Association as a compensation for its financial commitment in co-organising this event.

A call for candidatures will be launched soon in this regard, specifying the guidelines to follow to submit your application.

Meanwhile, for expressions of interest and further information, don't hesitate to contact the INSME Secretariat:
Mr. Mariano G. Cordone
 secretariat@insme.it
Phone: +39 06 80972.472
Fax: +39 06 80972.443

The Technology Platform on Future Manufacturing Technologies
http://www.manufuture.org/

Launched in 2003, MANUFUTURE is an initiative of the European Commission aimed at transforming the European manufacturing sector from a resource-intensive to a knowledge-intensive, innovative sector, capable to compete successfully in the globalised marketplace.

The MANUFUTURE Platform addresses the entire manufacturing sector, integrating all stakeholders and their needs. Its main role is to govern research, technological development and innovation efforts aimed at the transformation of the European manufacturing industry at 2 levels:

1. at policy level, with the continuous development of the MANUFUTURE vision and the promotion of the Lisbon objectives;
2. at an operational level, with a technological approach exploiting all possible synergies arising from the converging nature of science and technologies.

National MANUFUTURE Platforms have been established in 16 countries to date. These are at various stages of maturity - and eight more are scheduled for imminent start-up.

Read about other European Technology Platforms:
 http://cordis.europa.eu.int/technology-platforms/home_en.html

The Fashion Net e-Learning Platform has just been launched! It is made up of a series of training modules, useful documents for the preparation of proposals, tests for assessing the learning level and an on-line assistance interactive service in order to answer questions from those who intend to participate in European projects.

It is conceived as an easy and enjoyable tool for SMEs to learn more about how to participate in European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP6).

Access to the platform is free of charge: 
 http://fashionnet.insme.org/New_Fashionnet/elearning_02.php

This e-learning platform is an initiative of Fashion Net, a project funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), ETI scheme (Economic and Technological Intelligence).
 
For further information, please contact the Fashion Net Project Coordinator at IPI (Italian Institute for Industrial Promotion):
Dr. Silvia Grandi
 grandi@ipi.it
Phone: +39.06.80972.215
Fax: +39.06.80972.443

Subscribe to FN News, Fashion Net free quarterly online newsletter!

The SME Toolkit offers free business management information and training to small and medium enterprises in emerging markets on issues such as accounting and finance, business planning, human resources, marketing and sales, operations, and information technology. It is a project launched a few years ago by the International Finance Corporation (member of the World Bank Group).

The SME Toolkit has localised versions in eight languages and has distributed more than 3,000 CD-ROMs to date.

Learn more about the SME Toolkit at the IFC website:
 http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sme.nsf/Content/SME_Toolkit

This new international project is about fostering integration between Tunisian and European Scientific, Technological and Innovation (STI) systems.

STREN foresees a set of actions for improving the visibility of Tunisian and EU tools for the support to science and technology development (website, newsletter, thematic databases, etc.). Training initiatives, thematic seminars regarding Sixth Framework Programme's (FP6) thematic priority areas, a study on best practices of EU-Tunisian partnerships for research projects, and other dissemination activities are foreseen.

 Download STREN Brochure [FR]

The project started on January 1st, 2006, and will end on December 31, 2007.

For further information, please contact:

Mrs. Neila Nouira Gongi General Director of the Tunisian Ministry of Industry, Energy and SME (Project Leader)  neila.gongi@industrie.gov.tn Phone: +216 71893321

Ms. Francesca Giannotti IPI (STREN Consortium Partner)  giannotti@ipi.it Phone: +39.06.80972.519

This newly released manual describes 65 good practices identified by PAXIS (the EU Pilot Action Of Excellence on Innovative Start-ups) in the areas of policy design, pre-seed and early-stage financing; incubation; technology transfer and spin-offs; promotion of an entrepreneurial and innovation culture and political awareness.

The practices originate from very different regions, but all aim at helping new companies through the practical difficulties they face during their creation and early growth periods.

You can download the manual at: 
 http://www.insme.org/documents/paxis_manual.pdf

From research and development to legal and marketing services, a wide range of knowledge-intensive service activities (KISAs) enable firms and public sector organisations to better innovate.

Edited by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this publication examines the contribution of knowledge-intensive services to the acquisition and growth of innovation capabilities in firms and public sector organisations. It focuses on KISAs in four industry sectors: software, health care, tourism and leisure, and resource-based industries such as mining technology services, aquaculture and forestry.

The analysis derives from a series of surveys and case studies undertaken in nine OECD countries: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway and Spain.

The print version of "Innovation and Knowledge-Intensive Service Activities" is available from the OECD Online Bookshop. Forthcoming also an e-book PDF format.

For a synthesis report go to: 
 http://www.oecd.org/document/