10-13 May, 2010
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Venue: Hotel Sofitel, Copacabana

The next INSME Annual Meeting will be held in May 2010 from 10 to 13 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event will be co-organised by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service - SEBRAE, INSME Member.

Participation for INSME Members is for free.

 Download the information flyer on the INSME 2010 Annual Meeting.

 Download a list of recommended hotels.

Watch the video on the location of the 2010 INSME Annual Meeting.

More details on the VI INSME Annual Meeting will be available on the dedicated website at:
 www.annualmeeting2010.insme.org (currently under construction).

For expressions of interest and details, please contact the INSME Secretariat at:
 insmerio2010@insme.it

 Learn more about former INSME Annual Meetings.

The INSME Association has recently launched a Working Group (WG), chaired by the INSME President Mr. Paolo Anselmo, on the theme SME Financing. The WG aims at maximising the networking and the collaboration among INSME members, on a voluntary basis, to work together, exchange ideas and possibly set up joint initiatives on specific topics. In order to start the activities of this WG, a questionnaire has been elaborated to investigate the capability to build up programmes and initiatives in the field of the Investment Readiness for the entrepreneurs and on the Ready to Invest for the investors. 

 To download the questionnaire on Knowledge based Entrepreneurship Support, please click here.

Please, send your feedback to the INSME Secretariat by October 20, 2009. INSME non-Members are invited to join.

The presentations made during the ALADI's Meeting (Latin American Association for Integration) on: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the International Economic Crisis ( Reunión de Responsables Gubernamentales MIPYMES de los Pa�ses Miembros: Las MIPYMES y la crisis económica internacional) are now available on the ALADI website.

The meeting, transmitted via the Internet in July 22 and 23, from the ALADI headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay, focused on the international economic crisis and its impact on local economies, MSMEs and foreign trade and illustrated actions and instruments used by the Latin American governments to face the effects caused by the economic situation.

Read more at:
 http://www.aladi.org

EBN (European Business and Innovation Centre Network) has published an interesting Study on successful practices whithin the EBN network in creating new innovative businesses and in helping foster innovation within existing businesses.

 To download the study Good practices in creating new innovative businesses at EBN please, click here.

The European Commission - DG Enterprise established an independent Business Panel aimed to provide, through a consultation debate, inputs from a business perspective on priorities for future Innovation Plan for Europe.
The consultation debate, closed on the 31st of August 2009, will result in a final report to be issued in early Autumn 2009 on future EU innovation policy.

 Click here to download the PDF version of the panel consultation.

For further information, please, visit the webpage at:
 http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/innovationunlimited/

At present only the Public consultation on Community innovation policy is open.

To submit comments, please, fill in this document by 16th November 2009, and send it by e-mail to entr-innovation-policy-development@ec.europa.eu.

The results will be published here.

The Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation (EACI) is an executive body composed by an international team of specialists on energy, transport, finance, environment, competitiveness and innovation from both the European Commission and the private sector. The agency manages several programmes, including: the Enterprise Europe Network, the Intelligent Energy, the Marco Polo funding programme and the Eco-innovation funding programme. Its mission is to link competitiveness and innovation with environmental protection and a cleaner energy future. EACI became an Observer of INSME in July 2009.

Read more at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/eaci

Call for Trans-National Projects

The 6th call for trans-national projects of the ERA-NET EraSME initiative (FP7) will be open until October 30, 2009 with 14 participating funding programs. The call aims to strengthen the competitive capacity of SMEs by enhancing cooperation proposals in all fields of technology.

The section "Project Building" provides tools in order to facilitate the finding for potential cooperation partners for participation in this call.

 For detailed information and relevant documents see section "Help Desk".

Call for Trans-national Collective Research Project Proposals

The 8th Joint CORNET Call, gives the opportunity to submit proposals for a joint collective research project to consortia of associations, federations, trade associations or groupings of industrial enterprises from at least 2 different CORNET countries.

 Click here to view the list of the European countries and regions that participate.

Submission closure: October 30, 2009.

 Read more about the Guidelines.

Call for proposals for standard projects.

The ENPI CBC MED programme first call for proposals for standard projects aims at promoting cross-border projects between local actors in the Mediterranean basin. The section "Project ideas collection provides tools in order to facilitate the finding for potential cooperation partners, that can be sorted by Countries or measures, for participation in this call.

The deadline for the submission of the project proposals is postponed until October 20th 2009.

Read more at:
 http://www.enpicbcmed.eu/

Call for experts.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) launched, on May 2009, a call addressed to individuals for the establishment of a database of independent experts to assist the EIT in the process of the evaluation and implementation of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs).

The database will include profiles from the following areas:
� Sustainable energy
� Climate change adoption and mitigation
� Future information and communication society
� Business creation and venture capital
� Innovation in existing business
� Entrepreneurial education
� Research and product development.

The list drawn up from the date of publication of this call will be valid until the end of 2013.

Applications may be submitted at any time, up to the last 3 months of validity of the list.

To register as an independent expert, please click here.

Further information available at:
 http://eit.europa.eu/experts.html

Trademarks are an essential part of protecting your brand. Properly registering, protecting and enforcing your trademark rights in China is fundamental to working in China, whether selling, sourcing or manufacturing.

 To learn more about trademarks in China, take the China IPR SME Helpdesk's online training module at http://china-iprhelpdesk.eu/emodule/index.html or click here to read the Helpdesk 'Introduction to trademarks'.

The helpdesk is currently focusing on trademarks as a major IPR issue facing SMEs, and has launched an online E-learning module on the subject.

 Click here to download the 'Helpdesk Bulletin' on the E-learning module.

The WAINOVA Atlas of Innovation is an interactive publication aimed to collect data from some 1200 innovation hotspots, i.e. science and technology parks and business incubators, around the world. This initiative, coordinated by IASP (International Association of Science Parks), was launched by WAINOVA World Alliance for Innovation during the XXVI IASP World Conference (1-4 June 2009 in Raleigh, North Carolina).

 To see the online version please click here.

 To book the printed version, please, fill in the form at:
http://www.wainova.com/bookorder.htm

The E2B Association (E2B A), based in Brussels, has been created by nine founding members, among which D'Appolonia (INSME Member). It is a transparent association opened to all organizations interested in Energy Efficiency in Buildings Research and Demonstration.
The main objective of the E2B A was only the creation of the E2B JTI (Energy Efficient Buildings Joint Technology Initiative), an innovative instrument of the FP7 for supporting industrial research on key technologies and developing a competitive industry in the fields of energy efficient construction processes, products and services. At present, the E2B A also stimulates other kind of PPP (Public Private Partnership) known as E2B European Initiative (E2B EI).

Further information available at:
 http://www.e2b-ei.eu/default.php

On June 2009, the European Commission published a guide to help SMEs sharpen up training practices. This guide is addressed to actors involved in SME training at sectoral and national level with the aim to illustrate how SMEs can successfully overcome challenges and tasks in the context of training and skills development.

 Download the Guide - 50 practical examples of good practices.

 Download the Guide for Training in SMEs.

The 2009 BIC observatory report, issued by EBN (European Business & Innovation Centre Network), is the analysis of EBN's quality system 2008 data, conveyed through a questionnaire by more than 80% of the 147 accredited BICs (Business Innovation Centres). The report provides a picture of the changing BIC profile, of results achieved during the years and it demonstrates that localization, customization and specialization are the main responses of BICs to the current economic contingencies.

 Download the report.

Further information available at:
 http://www.ebn.be/NewsDetail.aspx?id=46

Export Helpdesk (EH) Newsletter, is a quarterly publication produced by the European Commission - External Trade, aimed at widening  and deepening the communication on EH initiatives focused, in particular, on providing information required by developing countries exporters interested in supplying the EU market.

 To see the latest Export Helpdesk Newsletter issue and the former ones, please, click here.

 To subscribe, please, send an E-mail to trade-g1-export-helpdesk@ec.europa.eu mentioning "Subscribe in the subject line.

Find out more about Export Helpdesk at:
 http://exporthelp.europa.eu/index_en.html

Conceived within the framework of the SCALES (SCientific AnaLysis of Entrepreneurship and SMEs), a programme carried out by EIM Business & Policy Research, this website provides access to more than 200 publications and to 3 international datasets about SMEs and entrepreneurship from 1998 onwards.

 Learn more about EIM's Knowledge Web on SMEs and Entrepreneurship.

Access2Finance - EU-Finance for small and medium-sized enterprises is an initiative supported by the European Union with the aim to simplify the access to finance tools for SMEs. In particular, it provides information about the European Commission funds, especially CIP (Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme) 2007-2013 funds, in order to guarantee loans extended to SMEs by a range of financial institutions at European and national level.

 To read more, please, click here.

28-29 September 2009
3rd EU-Africa Business Forum
Organised by the European Commission and the African Union Commission
Nairobi, Kenya

28 September - 01 October 2009
Summer School "A Walk on the Wild Side of Knowledge Transfer"
Organised by the Knowledge Transfer Unit of the University of Lisbon (UL Inovar) and supported by INPI - Brazilian National Institute for IP and EPO - European Patent Office
Lisbon, Portugal

29-30 September 2009
4th European Security Research Conference
Organised by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) in cooperation with the European Commission.
Stockholm, Sweden

30 September -02 October 2009
XII Foromic: Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise
Organised by the IADB- Inter American Development Bank
Arequipa, Peru

30 September -03 October 2009
XIV Baltic Dynamics Conference "The Dynamics of Innovation Spaces: Bringing Innovation to Society"
Co-organised by Baltic Association of Science/Technology Parks and Innovation Centres - BASTIC, KTU Regional Science Park, Kaunas Regional Innovation Centre and Kaunas University of Technology
Vilnius, Lithuania

30 September -03 October 2009
Workshop "Women and Entrepreneurship"
Organised by the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation - BSEC and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)
Chisinau, Moldova

30 September -01 October 2009
1st Euro-Mediterranean Conference & Exhibition on Donor Funding, Banking and Novel Financial Instruments
Organised by the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations in the framework of Invest in Med programme
Cairo, Egypt

30 September -01 October 2009
Bioforum 2009
Organised by Innovare: Tecnologie, Esperienze, Ricerche - ITER
Milan, Italy

01 October 2009
The 1st European Entrepreneurs' Creative Festival. Your ideas are needed in 2009
Organised by the UMIS - SMEA, the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs' Association
Zagreb, Croatia

01 October 2009
EU Finance Day for SMEs
Organised by the European Commission
Brussels, Belgium

02-03 October 2009
2009 Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy "Creating the Future through Science and Innovation"
Organised by the Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, USA

02 October 2009
Business Day
Organised by the AREA Science Park
Triest, Italy

04-07 October 2009
IEDC's 2009 Annual Conference
Organized by International Economic Development Council
Reno, NV, United States

05-06 October 2009
Conference "From the European Charter for Small Enterprises to the Small Business Act"
Organised by the European Commission - DG Enterprise and Industry
Stockholm, Sweden

06-08 October 2009
7th International Conference 2009 "Inclusive Growth, Innovation and Technological Change: education, social capital and sustainable development"
Organised by the Global Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems (Globelics), United Nations University UNU-MERIT and CRES - Consortium for Economic and Social Research
Dakar, Senegal

06 October 2009
AGE Joint Workshop "Towards a New Ageing Vision: The Contribution of ICT Industry and Businesses"
Organised by the European Older People's Platform - AGE
Brussels, Belgium

07-09 October 2009
Enterprise Europe Network Annual Conference "Rising to the challenge: supporting small business in a time of crisis"
Organised by Enterprise Europe Network in association with the Swedish EU presidency
Stockholm, Sweden

08-09 October 2009
IASP European Division Workshop: Sustainability of Science and Technology Parks - what it is and how to achieve it!
Organized by Technologiepark Ostfalen
Magdeburg, Germany

12-16 October 2009
12th TCI Annual Global Conference: "Learning Clusters - adapting to the new competitiveness scenario"
Organized by TCI Networks
Jyv�skyl�, Finland

12-17 October 2009
12th International Training Workshop on Business Incubation "Business Incubation Models & Effective Entrepreneur Support System"
Organised by Shanghai Tehnology Innovation Center
Shanghai, China

12 October 2009
WIPO Conference: 10 Years UDRP - What's Next?
Organised by WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
Geneva, Switzerland

13-14 October 2009
WIPO Advanced Workshop on Domain Name Dispute Resolution: Update on Practices and Precedents
Organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO
Geneva, Switzerland

13-14 October 2009
1st European Innovation Summit
Organised by Knowledge4Innovation- K4I
Brussels, Belgium

15-16 October 2009
Creativity and Innovation Conference 2009
Organised by the Province of Limburg
Maastricht, the Netherlands

15-16 October 2009
WIPO Arbitration Workshop
Organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO
Geneva, Switzerland

17-18 October 2009
EU-China Business & Technology Cooperation Fair IV
Organised by EU Project Incubation Centre (Chengdu); Participants that register before 1st June will be free of registration fee. After 1st June a registration fee of 200 Euro/person is foreseen.
Chengdu Sichuan Province, P. R. China

19-20 October 2009
Seminar "European Requirements & Financial Responsibilities in EU funded projects"
Organised by the European Academy for Taxes, Economics and Law
Berlin, Germany

19-20 October 2009
Global Forum 2009: Shaping the Future
Organized by Items International in cooperation with the Foundation Sophia-Antipolis and the Romanian Ministry of Communications & Information Technology
Bucharest, Romania

20-21 October 2009
Final Conference eBIZ-TCF Project
Organised by eBIZ-TCF with the support of the European Commission - DG Enterprise and Industry
Brussels, Belgium

21-22 October 2009
Optimizing Innovation 2009
Organised by Connecting Group
New York, United States

21-23 October 2009
AURP Annual Conference 2009 "Advancing Global Research Park Networks"
Hosted by AURP - the Association of University Research Parks
Vancouver, Canada

22-23 October 2009
IASP European Division Workshop: "Science Parks as tools for inward investment and soft landing"
Organized by Mj�rdevi Science Park
Linköping, Sweden

24-26 October 2009
11th West Lake International Conference on Small & Medium Business
Organized by Hangzhou Municipal Government, Zhejiang University of Technology, Zhejiang Small & Medium Enterprises Bureau and World Association of Industrial & Technological Research organizations
Hangzhou, China

27-30 October 2009
3rd OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy
Organized by OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Busan, Republic of Korea

28-30 October 2009
11th European Conference on Creativity and Innovation
Organised by the Flanders District of Creativity and the COCD - Center for the development of Creative Thinking
Brussels, Belgium

29-30 October 2009
13th Annual Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Conference
Organised by the Institut f�r Service und Relationship Management - University of Leipzig.
Leipzig, Germany

23-25 November 2009
3rd World Forum on Regional Economic Development
Organised by EURADA in partnership with ADERAM, Ag�ncia de Desenvolvimento da Regi�o Autonoma da Madeira (Portugal), and with the support of Alberto Jo�o Jardim, President of the Government of the Autonomous Region of Madeira
Funchal, Madeira, Portugal