SME Innovation: Boosting Development and Growth in Times of Change


10^th-13^th May, 2010
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Over 190 innovation stakeholders from 25 Countries from all over the globe and 29 distinguished speakers, including entrepreneurs and International Organisations, gathered at the 6^th INSME Association Annual Meeting. The event, co-organised by SEBRAE (INSME Member), has marked an important step to foster mutual learning on Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Innovation Ecosystems and to strengthen relations of the INSME Network in Latin America by favouring the dissemination of good practices among different international players.

 Read the speakers' presentations at: http://www.annualmeeting2010.insme.org/speakers/

 Click here to view the list of participants.

A photo gallery of the event will be available in the next days.

Announcement has been made of the: 7^th INSME Annual Meeting on Competitiveness, Culture and Cross-Border Co-operation: Assisting SMEs to Grow and Reach International Markets to be held in Helsinki, Finland on the 23^rd -25^th May 2011. The event will be co-organised by EPROCA (European ProClusters Association), new INSME Member.
 
 To view the location of the 7^th INSME Annual Meeting, please, visit our portal.

During the event it has been announced also the organisation of :
the Third International Training Programme on Financing Your Business with Intellectual Property, organised by the INSME Association in partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to be held in Geneva, Switzerland on the 1^st-2^nd December 2010. Participation is free of charge.

More information will be available in the next months on the INSME portal.

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

The INSME Association warmly welcomes the following organisations that have recently joined the INSME Network with the status of Full Member:

- Russian agency for small and medium business support (SIORA), based in Moscow, Russia;
- Polo Navacchio S.p.A (Polo Tecnologico), based in Pisa, Italy;
- European ProClusters Association (EPROCA), based in Helsinki, Finland.

The INSME Association now includes 75 Members from 29 Countries (15 OECD and 14 non-OECD) in 5 continents: 16 Governmental Bodies, 18 International Organisations, 12 International NGOs and 29 networks and intermediaries acting in the field of innovation and technology transfer to SMEs.
The updated mailing list and the 2010 Members' Compendium of the INSME Association Members is available on the INSME portal within the Members' Area:
 http://www.insme.org/

Forgotten your User ID and password to access the Members' Area? Please contact us at:
 secretariat@insme.it

 View the full list of the INSME Members.
 Check out the eligibility criteria to join INSME and the 2010 INSME fees.
 Apply for membership in the INSME Association.

ChinaAccess4EU, officially started in January 2010 with a duration of 2.5 years, is a project financed by the European Commission - DG Research. It is one of the several Access4EU projects to support the EU access to research and innovation programmes managed by 11 third countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, U.S.).

The project consortium is based on a strong partnership of 11 European and Chinese organizations, including EBN - European Business & Innovation Centre Network (INSME Member).

 To find out more please, download the brochure and visit the following website:
  http://www.access4.eu/China/

The European Patent Office - EPO within the framework of its learning management system (LMS) - the e-learning platform which provides access to materials covering a wide range of patent-related topics - has recently launched the new open-access public modules on "How to get a European patent".

 Download the e-learning modules on "How to get a European patent" here.
 To view the former modules, please, click here.

On the 30^th April 2010 the European Commission published a report dealing with the double taxation problems that arise when Venture Capital (VC) is invested cross-border.
The report sets out the conclusions of the work of the Venture Capital Tax Expert Group on Removing Tax Obstacles to Cross-border Venture Capital Investments and identifies the main tax barriers to cross-border investments of VC in the EU and recommends how to overcome these barriers.

 Read the press release and the questions and answers section.
 Download the full report.

For more information on Commission policy dealing with the VC industry please refer to the website of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry.

The presentations made during the European Challenges for Innovation, the conference jointly organised by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Commission which took place in 27^th and 28^th April 2010 in Bilbao (Spain) are now available at the following link:
http://www.challenges4innovation.es/Publico/Programme/index.aspx?idioma=en

To find out more about the event, please, visit the dedicated website at :
 http://www.challenges4innovation.es/Publico/Home/index.aspx?idioma=en

Founded in 1992 under the initiative of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Russian Agency for Small and Medium Business Support (SIORA) operates on the market of consulting services for commercial and state enterprises and for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to develop and increase their competitiveness. The Agency is actively involved into the development of SME support infrastructure, establishment of inter-regional and International business information exchange among SMEs and in the participation in the International projects on development of SMEs.

SIORA is the Russian branch of Enterprise Europe Network and is an INSME Member since 2010.

Read more at:
 http://www.siora.ru/en/

Call for Tenders

Call identifier: 3/PP/ENT/CIP/10/A/NO2S003

Aim: Explore ways to create a European financial market for IPRs and to enhance transparency and predictability of IPRs transactions.

Participants: all natural and legal persons from one of the EU Member States and to all natural and legal persons in a third country which has a special agreement with the Communities in the field of public procurement on the conditions laid down in that agreement.

The maximum price for this call for tender is € 230 000 (two hundred thirty thousand).

Submission deadline: 17^th June, 2010

 To find out more please click here.

Call for Proposals

Call identifier: ACTION ENT/ERA/10/411 - ERASMUS for young entrepreneurs

Aim: Helping new EU entrepreneurs enrich their experiences, learning and networking by spending periods in enterprises run by experienced entrepreneurs in other EU Member States, in order to enhance the entrepreneurship, internationalisation and competitiveness of potential start-up entrepreneurs and newly established micro and small enterprises in the EU.

Deadline for submission of proposals: 28^th June 2010

For further information on the call, read the website at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=4258

Call for Proposals

The BSEC-HDF Committee (Black Sea Economic Cooperation-Hellenic Development Fund) has recently launched a Call for Proposals in Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The overall purpose of BSEC-HDF is to support the efforts of the BSEC Organization to strengthen cooperation among its twelve Member States and to address the key energy challenges by decreasing the costs for greenhouse gas abatement, enhancing productivity and increasing competitiveness through economic benefits deriving from cost savings.

Budget: 400,000.00 Euros.

Participants: Any legal entity (national and operating in the territory of a BSEC Member State) from the public or the private sector, as well as international organizations (governmental or non-governmental); at least two entities, each one registered in a different BSEC Member States.

Deadline for submission of proposals: 31^st January 2011.

Read more on the Call for Proposals at:
 http://www.bsecprojects.com/index.aspx?pageName=hdf&id=20&parentId=9

Call for Papers

The International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology have launched a Call for Papers for The 8th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing, to be held in November 22-24, 2010 at Abu Dhabi University Khalifa City Campus, UAE.

Deadline for abstracts submission: 31^st May, 2010

For further information on the call, please download the Brochure or visit the website at:
 http://www.aimevents.net/icsm/papers.html

For further information on the conference, please visit the following website at:
 http://www.aimevents.net/icsm/conference.html

Copyright is a valuable form of intellectual property that protects a creator's exclusive right to control. Nearly all SMEs possess copyrights. Copyright protection is granted as soon as a work is created, without having to register.
Once a work is created, in most cases, it will automatically enjoy copyright protection in all 164 member countries of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works including all major economies, European countries and in China. However, voluntary registration is available in China to prove ownership.

 Read the document.

The Energy Innovation Network is an initiative launched on March 2010 by the Kauffman Foundation that aims at creating global linkages among technology, entrepreneurship, finance and policy, making the pathway for entrepreneurs more transparent.

 To learn more, please, visit the Energy Innovation Network website at:
http://www.energyinnovationnetwork.org/

This European Commission Staff Working Document on Innovative financing at a global level, published on April 2010, assesses the potential of innovative financing to raise revenues for addressing the current global challenges.

 Download the Commission Staff Working Document - Innovative financing at a global level.

This publication, issued by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the World Bank, the Medibtikar programme and the City of Marseille, aims to define and explain the role of science parks and technopoles and the interactions between them; to help decision makers to plan and manage science parks; to propose number of examples and previous experiences to which decision makers can refer.

 Download the guidebook (EN) (FR).

This portal, funded by EU Structural Funds and supported by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy), aims to create communities of potential partners among Mediterranean Countries to share specific information functional to operational planning and subsequent implementation of joint project ideas.
The strategic sectors of OpenMed are: Innovation and Enterprise; Environment; Mobility; Education and Culture; Local governance.
 
 Learn more at: http://www.open-med.eu

This newsletter is a  monthly publication issued by the European Network of Living Labs - ENoLL in order to provide updates about the network and its activities.

ENoLL, sponsored by the European Community, is an international federation of benchmarked Living Labs in Europe and worldwide and aims to coordinate the development and the  offer of a set of services to support the "Innovation Lifecycle" for all actors: end-users, SMEs, corporations, public sector and academia.

The current number of Living Labs is 212, out of which 25 are outside of Europe, covering North and South America, Africa and Asia.

 To find out more about ENoLL and to subscribe to its newsletter, please, visit http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/

2^nd-4^th June 2010
International Conference on Policies to Address Financing and Entrepreneurial Challenges in High-growth Innovative Firms
Helsinki, Finland

This high level conference, organised by the UNECE - United Nation Economic Commission for Europe (INSME Member), aims to provide a platform for a broad exchange of practical experiences and lessons learned among policymakers, representatives of business and academia, and other experts and practitioners on good practices and policies of promoting the development of high-growth innovative firms, in particular within the framework of the global economic and financial crisis.

The INSME Secretary General will make a presentation on the 2^nd June.

30^th June-2^nd July 2010
19th EBN Annual Congress BURGOS 2010
Burgos, Spain

This year the EBN Annual Congress, organised by the EBN - European Business & Innovation Centre Network (INSME Member), on Smart entrepreneurship: challenging the recession will be focussed on how the current challenging economic times present extraordinary opportunities for enhancing the competiveness of organizations through innovation.

27^th -28^th May 2010
Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial level From recovery to Sustained Growth
Organised by the OECD- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Paris, France

31^st May- 1^st June 2010
SBA Conference "Getting SMEs on the road to recovery - the Small Business Act for Europe & European Enterprise Awards 2010: exchange of good practices"
Organised by the European Commission in collaboration with the EU Spanish Presidency
Madrid, Spain

1^st-2^nd June 2010
EuroMedtech� 2010
2^nd Annual International Medtech Partnering Conference
Leipzig, Germany

2^nd June 2010
SME Forum 2010 Growing SMEs: Its time to invest
Organised by the BiD Network
The Hague, The Netherlands

2^nd-3^rd June 2010
Forum "Exchange of Experiences and Best Practices in Private- Public Partnerships for the Internationalization of MSMEs"
Organised by ALADI- Latin American Integration Association
Montevideo, Uruguay

2ⁿd-4^th June 2010
8th World Investment Conference Europe's attractiveness in a changing world
Organised by La Baule WIC and supported by the Europe+ Foundation
La Baule, France

3^rd-4^th June 2010
Mediterranean Economic Leaders Summit - Invest in Med Conference
Supported by the Invest in Med programme
Barcelona, Spain

3^rd-4^th June 2010
European Conference on Craft Enterprises "Tradition, Innovation and Sustainability in Crafts: the Public Administration Support
Organised by the Spanish EU Presidency
Barcelona, Spain

3^rd-5^th June 2010
Conference & Exhibition "SAVE ENERGY, SAVE WATER, SAVE THE PLANET"
Organised by ViaExpo
Sofia, Bulgaria

6^th-9^th June 2010
2010 ISPIM Conference - The Dynamics of Innovation
Organized by the International Society for Professional Innovation Management - ISPIM
Bilbao, Spain

7^th-8^th June 2010
Russia - Europe: Cooperation without Frontiers
Organised by the Interregional Public Organization -Moscow Entrepreneurs Association and Foundation for Contributing to Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Science and Technical Spheres of the Russian Federation
Moscow, Russia Federation

8^th-9^th June 2010
World Innovation Forum
Where Innovation Meets Business
New York, United States of America

9^th-10^th June 2010
Innotown 2010
Organised by Innotown
Alesund, Norway

10^th-11^th June 2010
ICSTI Annual Conference 2010 "From Information to Innovation"
Organised by the ICSTI (International Council for Scientific and Technical Information)
Helsinki, Finland

14^th June 2010
IASP Latin American Workshop 2010 Synergies in Science Parks and Incubators: a way of strengthening growth 
Organised by the Panama's Business, Scientific and Technological Park
Panama

14^th-18^th June 2010
World Bank Innovation Policy Core Course "Introduction to Innovation Policy"
Jointly organized by the World Bank Institute and the Korea Development Institute
Washington D.C., United States

15^th-16^th June 2010
NANOfutures
Organised by the European Commission, the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, the Government of Principality of Asturias, the NANOfutures association and PRODINTEC
Gijón, Spain

16^th-17^th June 2010
Nanoforum
Organised by Iter
Turin, Italy

17^th June 2010
The 2010 New York Venture Summit
Organised by youngStartup Ventures
New York, United States

21^st-25^th June 2010
5CLAC - 5th TCI Latin American Cluster Conference 2010 Competitiveness clusters: businesses and possibilities for regional development for Latin America"
Organised by the Medellin City Hall, the Medellin Chamber of Commerce, the Cluster Community and TCI -The Competitiveness Institute
Medell�n, Colombia

23^rd-24^th June 2010
2nd ChinaBio Partnering Forum
Hosted by ChinaBio LLC and EBD Group
Suzhou, P.R. China

23^rd-25^th June 2010
European Forum for Innovation Empowering the Pan-European Community in a Competitive Global Environment
Organised by CREATE-NET, the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) and the Autonomous Province of Trento
Trento, Italy

23^rd-25^th June 2010
Second Annual Global Business Summit Conference
Organized by the Global Strategic Management Inc. (GSMI) and the Pondicherry University
Pondicherry, India

28^th June-9^th July 2010
4^th Barcelona Clusters Summer School (BCSS 2010)
Organised by the International Centre for Competitiveness of the IESE Business School
Barcelona, Spain

30^th June-1^st July 2010
European Business Summit 2010 "Putting Europe back on track"
Organised by BUSINESSEUROPE and the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (VBO-FEB)
Brussels, Belgium

2^nd-7^th July 2010
EuroScience Open Forum ESOF2010
Organized by Euroscience
Turin, Italy

5^th July-2^nd August
4^th Summer Academy on Innovation and Uncertainty
Jointly hosted by the DFG Research Training Group (GSBC-EIC) and the International Max Planck Research School
Jena, Germany

6^th-9^th August 2010
3^rd Conventional International Business Extreme Forum Traditions and Culture. Training Innovators
Organised by the Russian Academy of Management and Market, the National Agency for Entrepreneurship Technological Support (INTECH) and National Business Incubator Association of Russia (NSBI)
Republic of Karelia, Russia