Our latest event in Canton concluded successfully! Thanks to all its participants.

Learn more about the issues discussed at the INSME International Conference:

 Read the speakers' presentations

 Have a look at the photo gallery section

 Find out about the participants in the 2008 INSME International Conference

 Audio files of the speakers' speeches available soon on the INSME portal.

 

Book your agenda for the next 3-day V INSME Annual Meeting to take place in Dubai (UAE) in late April 2009, co-hosted by the Dubai Technopark, UNIDO ITPO Bahrain, the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF).

Information will be available in the next months.

Find out more about the INSME co-hosting partners in the Gulf region:
 TechnoPark video presentation
 TechnoPark ppt presentations

 

Read about the latest training co-organised by INSME:

26-27 June, 2008

Innovation and Technology Transfer Services for SMEs: the Role of Intermediary Organisations"

Seoul, Korea

 All presentations are available at:
 http://www.apec-smeic.org/archive

Would you like to partner with the INSME Association in organising a training programme in 2009? Check out the terms and benefits at:
 http://www.insme.org/

Contact the INSME Secretariat for further information and to present your candidature:
 secretariat@insme.it

 

A promotion video on the EuroMed Innovation and Technology Programme (Medibtikar) is now available. The video underlines the main activities of the programme, bringing-up the innovation culture and methodology in SMEs from the MEDA region to increase their competitiveness.

Watch the Medibtikar Programme Promotion Movie:
http://files.medibtikar.eu/programme/Medbitikar_promotion_movie.wmv

Medibtikar is coordinated by Intrasoft International Luxembourg, INSME Member.

 

The Invest in Med project has been officially kicked off during the Conference which took place in Marseille, France, on 1-2 July 2008.

Co-financed by the European Commission, the 36-month project, which has a 12 million Euro budget, aims at encouraging European investments in the Mediterranean region, as well as developing strong links between Med companies in 9 Southern partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia) and their European counterparts (27 EU Member States).

Actions to be developed in the framework of the programme include: B2B meeting, regional seminars, trainings, investment promotion workshops, short-term staff exchange, technical assistance missions, studies, long-term staff secondments.

The initiatives will be proposed by programme's partners (members of the MED-Alliance network), generally via their association.

INSME is among the partners.

For further information, please visit in the near future the Project website (under construction) and subscribe to the Newsletter "Invest in Med Biz Board":
 http://www.invest-in-med.eu

Also visit the ANIMA Investment Network website:
 http://www.animaweb.org

 

Adopted by the European Commission on 25 June 2008, the "Small Business Act" (SBA) for Europe aims to set out principles and concrete measures to improve the framework conditions for European SMEs, taking in fully account their diversity.

The Small Business Act  wants to achieve the best possible framework conditions for SMEs through,  first and foremost, a society's recognition of entrepreneurs' role and by making the option of starting one's own business more attractive.

Furthermore, the European Commission, guided by the Think Small First principle, has resolved to propose new legislation in four areas that particularly affect SMEs : a new General Block Exemption Regulation on State aids; a new statute for a European Private Company; a new proposal on reducing Value Added Tax (VAT); an amendment to the directive on late payments.

For further and updated information on the Small Business Act, please visit :
 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/sba_en.htm
Download the newly released guide:
  Putting Small Business First: Europe is good for SMEs, SMEs are good for Europe, DG Enterprise and Industry

 

The Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) is an independent, non governmental, non-profit regional and international organization based in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Its mission consists in encouraging and supporting excellence and innovation in scientific and technological research in the Arab countries and promoting coordination and cooperation among researchers, scientists and scientific organizations for the sake of applying knowledge to the service of sustainable development in the Arab countries.

The ASTF, which has joined the INSME Association in July 2008, will be co-hosting the next INSME 2009 Annual Meeting to be held in Dubai, UAE.

Read more about the ASTF:
 http://www.astf.net/

The European SME week is being organised by the Commission for the first time from 6 to 14 May 2009!


The event has been conceived to thoroughly disseminate EU and national support policies for SMEs and entrepreneurship and will take place across Europe in the Member States.

The closing event, which will include the European Enterprise Awards ceremony, will be organised under  the Czech Presidency on 13 and 14 May 2009.

The event form and the list of national coordinators are available on
 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/
support_measures/smeweek2009/index.htm

 

A Call for proposals has been recently issued by DG Enterprise with the purpose to enhance entrepreneurship, internationalisation and competitiveness of potential start-up entrepreneurs in the EU and newly established micro and small enterprises. The call, addressed to public and private entities in the EU wishing to implement projects to encourage entrepreneurship, focuses on 2 different types of activity:

• European partnership enhancing the mobility of nascent entrepreneurs
• Coordination, support and networking at European level linked to the action mentioned in the 1st activity

The deadline for submission of proposals is 20th August 2008.

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects amounts to EUR 2,850,000.00.

Read the full text of the call for proposals on the following website:
 http://ec.europa.eu/call.pdf

 

The Mediterranean Programme of the Robert Schumann Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) has issued a call for papers in the run-up to its 10th Mediterranean Research Meeting, scheduled to be held in Florence, Italy on 25 - 28 March 2009.

This call, addressed to academics and researchers from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, aims to enable junior scholars to meet more senior scholars in an interactive environment, and to promote further research collaboration.

Applications for this call must be submitted by 1 September 2008.

See more about the call for papers:
 http://www.eui.eu/RSCAS/Research/Mediterranean/mrm2009/pdf/MRM2009-Paperscall.pdf 

European Countries involved: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey. The call is organised and funded by national and regional ministries and agencies participating in CORNET, through their existing funding programmes to support collective research projects.

For more information, please visit the dedicated website:
 www.cornet-era.net

Submission deadline: November 7th, 2008.

Leaflet about the VI transnational call for download:
 http://www.cornet-era.net/portal/pics/cornet_6th_joint_call_leaflet.pdf

See more about all the documentation related to the VI Cornet Call:
 http://www.cornet-era.net/guidelinestemplates.html
 

 

Launched in 2006 by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EIBURS programme (European Investment Bank University Research Sponsorship) provides grants to EU University Research Centres.

For the academic year 2008-2009, the EIB sponsorships, of up to EUR 100,000 per year for a period of three years, are awarded to the interested University Departments or Research Centres associated with Universities in the EU, Acceding or Accession Countries, with recognised expertise in areas of direct interest to the Bank:

• Financing Young Innovative Firms in Europe, related to possible finance constraints on young innovative firms in Europe.
• Infrastructure Funds, focused on analysing the drivers of infrastructure funds and their impact on the market for infrastructure finance as well as related public policy issues.

Deadline for submission of proposals: September 15, 2008.

Further information on the EIBURS programme at:
 http://www.eib.org/about/partners/universities/eiburs/

 

Fiscal incentives available to business angels in Europe, recently issued by the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), aims to give a complete and updated framework on the existing fiscal incentives given to Business Angels in Europe by several national governments in order to improve the cross-border investments by Venture Capital funds.

Dowload the publication:
 http://www.apba.pt/noticias/img_not_67/eban.pdf

Statistics Compendium presents data and analysis based on figures provided to the EBAN Secretariat either by federations of networks or business angel networks in Mid-2008, and concerning activities undertaken by the networks in 2007.
It is an illustration of trends in the industry as well as the current and future role played by European Business Angels and Venture Capital in the international market.

Download the Statistics Compendium 2008:
 http://www.eban.org/download/Statistics Compendium 2007_EBAN.pdf

For further information please visit:
 www.eban.org

 

This report, sponsored by the US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, deals with matters related to high-growth gazelle firms. These firms, which in fact represent only from two to three percent of all businesses, are defined as firms who have enjoyed major spikes in sales (e.g. doubling of sales) or jobs over a four-year period.

This research shows how the specific features of high impact firms aim at revisiting some of the conclusions of the early work on rapidly growing firms.

Download the study:
 http://www.sba.gov/rs328tot.pdf
 
 

Launched in March 2004, the Lisbon Regions Network (LRN) is originated from the cooperation among the 13 high-performing EU Regions (West Midlands, Brussels Capital, Emilia Romagna, Helsinki, Randstad, Riga, Stockholm, Valencia, Sofia, Slovenia, Land Hessen, Wielkopolska Region and Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region) with a shared interest in the Lisbon Strategy at European, national, regional and local level to stimulate jobs and growth.

 Visit the website

 

APEC SME Innovation Briefing is a six monthly newsletter issued by APEC SME Innovation Center (INSME Member), based in Korea. It provides several information on APEC Countries' innovation markets through analysis on best practices, feature stories, interviews on innovative case stories and opinion on current issues by international experts.

Review the latest issue of the APEC SME Innovation Briefing at:
 http://www.apec-smeic.org/newsletter/html/11.html

For further information on previous issues of the newsletter and to contribute to its future contents, please visit:
 http://www.apec-smeic.org/news/?menu=list1&BBSID=innovation

 

2-6 August, 2008
3rd ABAC SME Summit
Organised by APEC Business Advisory Council in cooperation with Alibaba.
Hangzhou, China
    

2 August, 2008 
2008 Global e-Business Champions of the Year 
Organised by Alibaba.
Hangzhou, China
    

3-12 August, 2008
SMEs in the Era of Globalization - Preparing SMEs for Involvement in the International Trade
International course organised by Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED), INCEP-SME (International Center for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises) and the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute (IEICI).
Beer Sheva, Israel 


12-14 August, 2008
19th WAITRO Biennial Congress
Organised by the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO).
Seri Kembangan, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia


6-11 September, 2008
AIPPI 41st World Intellectual Property Congress
Organised by AIPPI's (Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle).
Boston, USA


10-12 September, 2008
2008 EUNIP International Conference: Competitiveness, Territory and Industrial Policy
Organised by Orkestra (The Institute of Kompetitiveness + Development) and ESTE (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Deusto).
San Sebasti�n, Spain


14-17 September, 2008
XXV IASP World Conference 2008
The role of Science Parks in accelerating knowledge economy growth - contrasts between emerging and more developed economies.
Johannesburg, South Africa 
 

15-19 September, 2008
TII Summer school
Organised by TII - Technology Innovation International.
Volterra, Italy 
 

15-17 September, 2008
EFIB2008
The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology 2008.
Brussels, Belgium


15-16 September, 2008
WIPO-ICC Intellectual Property Training Workshop for Chambers of Commerce And Other Business Support Organizations
Organised by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
Geneva, Switzerland 
 

15-16 September, 2008
Consolidating Research and Innovation for European SMEs
Organised by OSEO with the support of the European Commission and the French Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment.
Paris, France 


22-26 September, 2008
XVIII Brazilian National Seminar on Science Parks and Business Incubation and the Anprotec Workshop - "Entrepreneurship: The Energy for the Innovative Brazil
Aracaj�, SE, Brazil


22 September, 2008
Ready for Equity
Training for Business Angels & Entrepreneurs.
Brussels, Belgium 


25-26 September, 2008
5th Annual Conference of the Technopolicy Network "Implementing Regional Innovation Strategies"
Organised by The Technopolicy Network in cooperation with Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
Halifax-Nova Scotia, Canada 


25-27 September, 2008
IV International Salon of Inventions and New Technologies "NEW TIME"
Stable Development in Time of Changes.
Sevastopol, Ukraine

2-3 October, 2008
8th European Congress of CEEC Development Agencies
RDA's Shaping the future of their Regions.
Rzeszów, Poland


7-9 October, 2008
BIOTECHNICA 16th international Trade Fair, Partnering, Conferences and Award
Organised by Eurotrans-Bio.
Hannover, Germany


8-10 October, 2008
11th Microenterprise Forum
Organized by the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund.
Asuncion, Paraguay


19-22 October, 2008
International Economic Development Council's 2008 Annual Conference
Organised by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).
Atlanta, GA, USA


21-23 October, 2008
CAMOT 2008 International Conference
Organised by China Association for Management of Technology.
Beijing, China


22 October, 2008
9th Annual Early Stage Venture Capital Investing Conference
Presented by International Business Forum (IBF).
San Francisco, CA, USA


22-24 October, 2008
2nd Europe INNOVA Conference
Organised by Europe INNOVA in collaboration with the French Presidency of the European Union.
Lyon, France


26-30 October, 2008
5th Congress of Scientific Research Outlook & Technology Development in the Arab World (SRO5) - Scientific Innovation and Sustained Development"
Organized by Arab Science & Technology Foundation (ASTF) In Collaboration and Support of Academy of Hassan II of Science and Technology-Morocco and the Ministry of National and Higher Education-Morocco.
Fez, Morocco


30-31 October 2008
http://www.entrepreneurship-indicators.net/
Organised by Eurostat/FORA.
Copenaghen, Denmark


4-6 November, 2008
35th ISBC Congress "An Entrepreneurial Odyssey"
Organised by the International Small Business Congress (ISBC) in collaboration with the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ISBE).
Belfast, N. Ireland


13-15 November, 2008
The world exhibition on innovation research and new technologies - 57th edition
The venue for Europe's innovative regions!
Brussels, Belgium 


21 November,2008
4�me Mediterranen Business Summit
Organised by ANIMA Investment Network.
Marseille, France


25-27 November, 2008
ICT event 2008 - Invention, Innovation, Impact
Organised by the European Commission's Directorate General for the Information Society and Media.
Lyon, France


26-28 November, 2008
Sidereus 2008
Organised by Filas.
Beijing, China