On 25^th June 2010 in Rome at INSME premises, the INSME Secretariat and the International NGO World Technopolis Association - WTA, based in South Korea, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to better promote among their members worldwide  multilateral cooperation and networking in the field of innovation, science and technology transfer.

This agreement is intended to facilitate the mutual exchange of knowledge, expertise and good practices; to improve the reciprocal knowledge, the online and off-line diffusion of information on international events, activities and programmes on SMEs and Technopolis development.

The meeting was attended by the INSME Secretary General, Ms. Simona Marzetti, the WTA Secretary General, Prof. Deog-Seong Oh, and the Program Manager, Mr. Insup Yeom from the WTA Secretariat. INSME will be attending the upcoming WTA General Assembly in early September in Chinese Taipei and the HiTech Fair to take place in October in Daejeon, South Korea.

For further information on WTA, please visit:
 http//www.wtanet.org

About WTA 2010 events:
 7^th WTA General Assembly

 7^th WTA Daejeon High-tech Fair

^{On 30th} June 2010, the INSME Association, in collaboration with the ASIA Association (INSME Member), welcomed in Rome, at INSME premises, the delegation from EU Project Incubation Centre (EUPIC), a non-profit organization based in Chengdu, P.R. China, led by Mrs. Segree DAI, CEO of EUPIC and Mr. Donald TAN, Officer from EUPIC. The meeting was intended to promote, among Italian business representatives, the next 5^th EU-China on Business & Technology Cooperation Fair to be held in Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R. China on 17^th-21^st October 2010. The workshop aimed to promote the opportunities offered by the hi-tech Fair to Italian participants as a unique chance to foster cooperation and dialogue between EU member States and provinces in western China in the field of New Energy, IT, Bio-pharmaceutics and Green Technology.

 Download the EUPIC Presentation.

Read more about the 5^th EU-China on Business & Technology Cooperation Fair at:
 http://www.eu-china.org.cn/en.asp

Registrations to be included in the Fair catalogue are still open.

23^rd - 26^th May, 2011
Helsinki, Finland

Mark your calendar on 23^rd to 26^th May, 2011, Stock House, Helsinki, Finland:
"Competitiveness, Culture and Cross-Border Co-operation: Assisting SMEs to Grow, Innovate and Reach International Markets".

All interested organisations are invited to attend this event, which will be free of charge for INSME Association Members and EPROCA Members.

 View the location of the 2011 INSME Annual Meeting.

 Download the Flyer.

For participation and further details, please, visit the website at:
 www.annualmeeting2011.insme.org (currently under construction) or contact the INSME Secretariat at:
 insme2011@insme.it

 Click here to learn more about the former INSME Annual Meetings.

WIPO GOLD, developed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), is a free public resource which aims to facilitate universal access to Intellectual Property (IP) information by providing the gateway to WIPO's global collections of searchable IP data.

Learn more about WIPO GOLD at the following website:
 http://www.wipo.int/wipogold/en/

Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development sponsored the United Arab Emirates (UAE) component of the 2009 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), prepared by Zayed University.

This specific study deals with the key features of the successful UAE's entrepreneurial activity and environment and shows how, compared to other GEM Countries, the impact of the global economic crisis on starting or growing a business in the UAE has been relatively mild.

 Download the report.

The Dubai Institute of Technology (DIT) - Dubai Technopark is organising, in collaboration with the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research (WAITRO), the DIT 4^th Strategic Forum hosting WAITRO 20^th Biennial Congress & General Assembly on "Leadership for Innovation", to be held on 11^th -14^th October, 2010, in Dubai (UAE).

Please note that the deadline for the Early Bird registration is the 1^st September 2010.

Find out more at the conference's website:
 http://www.waitrodubai2010.com/

The INSME Secretary General is among confirmed speakers.

The INSME Association has recently joined forces with the Business Association Italy-America (BAIA) with the aim to gain mutual benefits, to exchange know-how and cooperate on a regular and voluntary basis with INSME and its Members interested in the US market. BAIA is an independent, non-profit business network created by and for entrepreneurs, managers, and professionals operating between Italy and the USA, focused on promoting innovation, enhancing knowledge sharing and cooperation for the growing Italian professional community in the USA.

For further information:
 http://www.baia-network.org/

The joint event between Europe INNOVA and the EPISIS INNO-Net for the Annual Partnering Event on Services Innovation as a Catalyst for the Europe 2020 Strategy (14-16 June in Copenhagen, Denmark) brought together some 200 innovation stakeholders, notably national and regional policy makers, representatives of service industries and innovation support providers.

Download the presentations currently available at the following link:
 http://www.europe-innova.eu/web/guest/copenhagen2010/programme

The outcomes of the VI EU-Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Towards a new phase of the bi-regional association: innovation and technology for sustainable development and social inclusion (18^th May 2010 in Madrid, Spain) and of the mini-summits which were held in parallel with specific Latin American and Caribbean -LAC Countries and sub-regions, are now available at the following link:
 http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/lac/index_en.htm

The SME Finance Forum on "How to exit the recession and achieve smart growth" was held on 6^th May 2010 in Brussels (Belgium) and organised by the European Commission.

 Read the high-level conference conclusions (English version).

To find out more, please, visit the following website at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/finance/financing-environment/sme-finance-forum/index_en.htm

The Italian-Libyan Chamber of Commerce is a private non-profit organization, established in 1999 in Italy and in Libya, providing several business support services to promote the development of economic relations between the two Countries (organisation of sectoral workshops, country presentations, missions and specialized trade fairs, etc.).

The Italian Libyan Chamber of Commerce has two offices, one based in Rome (Italy) and one based in Tripoli (Libya).

It became member of the INSME Association in mid 2010.

Read more at:
 http://www.cameraitalolibica.it

Call for proposals

Call identifier: PROINNOEurope-ENT-CIP-09-C-N02S005

Aim: to bring together public policies and actors responsible for eco-innovation, in particular innovation agencies and programmes, with a view to fostering trans-national cooperation on support for innovation through different instruments. The main objectives of this action are the identification of best practice in the participating countries in the fields of recycling, Green Public Procurement and international actions.

Eligibility: The applying consortia shall include a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 7 partners established in minimum three different eligible countries representing public organisations such as national and regional public authorities and public innovation funding agencies.

The maximum budget allocated for the operation is: �3,000,000.

Final date for submission: 30^th September 2010.

Read more at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/etap/funding/instruments_en.html

Calls for Transnational Projects

Both CORNET and EraSME have launched calls for Trans-national Collective Research Project Proposals aimed to strengthen the innovation capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. Both initiatives, the 10^th Joint CORNET Call and the 8^th EraSME Call, will be open until 30^th September, 2010 and will help SMEs to acquire technological know-how, to increase their research efforts, to extend their networks and bridging the gap between research and innovation.

The following regions/countries are participating in the 8^th EraSME Call: Austria, Belgium/Flanders, Czech Republic, Denmark (still pending), Germany, Iceland, Norway, Spain/Madrid.
The following regions/countries have confirmed their participation in the 10^th Joint CORNET Call: Austria, Belgium - Flanders, Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands.

Read more at:
 http://www.era-sme.net/public/ and http://www.cornet-era.net/introduction_10th_call.htm

 Download the Leaflet.

Call for Tenders

Call Identifier: OJ No S133 of 13 July 2010

Aim: to provide information, consultancy, technical assistance and research services on the interactions between the competitiveness of enterprises or industrial sectors and environment, climate change, energy and transport, eco-innovation, eco-design and sustainable product policies, in the EU and third countries.

Deadline: 20^th September 2010.

The total maximum budget earmarked for the contract is € 12,000,000.

Read more at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=4451&lang=en

Call for Tenders

Call identifier: 14/PP/ENT/CIP/10/C/N01C03

Aim: Prepare analytical reports related to innovation performance at national level and other related aspects, in particular, innovation in the public sector. The reports will help innovation policy making at the regional, national and European levels.

Submission deadline: 20^th August 2010

 Find out more here.

Call for speakers

Issuer: International Enterprise Promotion Convention (IEPC)

Aim: The key aim of this Convention is to share experience of successful programmes, whilst highlighting the policy implications, so that the many organisations, agencies and individuals trying to stimulate enterprises all around the world can learn from each other and improve what they do.

Deadline: 31^st July, 2010

See the Call for speakers page for full details:
 http://www.enterprisepromotion.org/call4speakers.htm

Understanding the financial value to the business of specific Intellectual Property assets is of particular importance when moving into a new market - product or geographic - because there will be new risks as well as opportunities. China presents some special challenges and practical steps to protect the value of Intellectual Property assets are often as important as legal ones. This article aims to explain how IP assets matter from a financial perspective and assess how to manage them to the greatest business advantage.

This information is provided by the China IPR SME Helpdesk, INSME Partner.

 Download the document.

The EU Gateway Programme, managed by the European Union, aims to help European companies to succeed in Japan and Korea by providing support at the critical early stages of their market penetration strategy. In this regard it organises and funds Business Missions in high technology and design sectors for European companies to develop their business in Japan and Korea.

Application deadline to participate at the upcoming business mission to Japan on Environment and Energy-related Technologies to Japan is 17^th September 2010.

 To learn more about the business missions to Japan, please, read the following document: http://www.insme.org/documents/EU Gateway Content Announcement _June 2010_.pdf

 To apply for one of the Business Missions, please, click here.

This report, based on a statistical analysis of data gathered up to 1^st April 2010, was issued on June 2010 by the European Commission - DG Research - SME Unit.

It monitors the participation of SMEs in the Cooperation Programme within the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) and also covers the SME participation in the Capacities and People programmes of FP7.

 Download the Fifth Progress Report on SME participation in the 7^th EU R&D Framework Programme.

This publication, prepared by Eurostat, presents an analysis of science, technology and innovation statistical indicators in Europe. The data focussed primarily on the 27 EU Member States and the EFTA countries while EU candidate countries are considered only in the case that data are available.

To allow comparisons with the rest of the world, data for China, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States are presented where possible.

 Download the Science, Technology and Innovation in Europe.

European SMEs under Pressure - Annual report on EU Small and Medium-sized Enterprises 2009, prepared by EIM Business & Policy Research, presents up-to-date data and estimates on the structure and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union.
It is based on an analysis of the available statistical data and of other empirical evidence up to and including 2009 and provides forecasts for future years.

 Download European SMEs under Pressure - Annual report on EU Small and Medium-sized Enterprises 2009.

Kauffmand Foundation, within the framework of its Research Series: Firm Formation and Economic Growth, released "The Importance of Startups
in Job Creation and Job Destruction". This report explores the relationship between firm formation and economic growth in the United States  and demonstrates that Startup companies are almost exclusively responsible for net job creation in the U.S.

 Download the report.

incrEAST is a web portal conceived as part of the project Expanding S&T Synergies: S&T International Cooperation Network for Eastern European and Central Asian Countries (IncoNet EECA).
Its objective is to improve networking between the research structures of the EU, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), to increase the share of knowledge and to support international co-operation.

To find out more, please, visit the following website:
 http://www.increast.eu/ (available also in Russian).

BILAT-USA and Link2US Newsletter is the quarterly e- newsletter which aims to provide comprehensive information about the projects' activities, as well as news and events of other initiatives/networks/organizations active in EU-U.S. cooperation.

To subscribe to BILAT-USA and Link2US Newsletter, please, visit the following website at:
 http://www.euussciencetechnology.eu/home/newsletter.html

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

5^th-7^th September 2010
11^th International CINet Conference "Practicing innovation in times of discontinuity"
Organised by the Continuous Innovation Network (CINet)
Z�rich, Switzerland

6^th-8^th September 2010
EU-China Partnership 2010
Matchmaking Innovation Global networking
Aalborg, Denmark

7^th-9^th September 2010
European Industrial Technologies conference
Organised by Sirris, SPW-Service Public De Wallonie, EWI (Flemish Government, Department of Economy, Science and Innovation), Agoria and the European Union
Brussels, Belgium

12^th - 15^th September 2010
Small Business Development Conference and 5^th Asia Pacific Conference on Business Incubation 2010
Supported by the Australian Government
Cairns, Australia

13^th-14^th September 2010
11^th MedTech Investing Europe Conference
Supported by EBAN- The European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and other Early Stage Market Players
London, United Kingdom

13^th-14^th September 2010
Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020 "Turning Challenges into Opportunities"
Organised by the Flemish Department of Economy, Science and Innovation in collaboration with the European Commission
Brussels, Belgium

14^th-18^th September 2010
14^th International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition
Organised by Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna
Rimini, Italy

15^th-17^th September 2010
AURP 2010 International Conference
Organised by AURP - Association of University Research Parks
Minneapolis, United States

15^th-17^th September 2010
Baltic Dynamics 2010 "Knowledge flow in innovation system: from idea to action"
Organised by the Baltic Association of Science/Technology Parks and Innovation Centres - BASTIC and the Latvian Technological Center
Riga, Latvia

16^th-17^th September 2010
"Energy challenges facing European industry"
Jointly organised by the Walloon Ministry for the Economy and the Federal Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate
Brussels, Belgium

23^rd-25^th September 2010
The Siberian International Innovative Business Congress
Supported by the Russian Venture Company (OJSC), the Russian Union of Industrials and Entrepreneurs and Federal Agency for Innovation and Science of the Russian Federation
Novosibirsk, Russia

23^rd-25^th September 2010
The European and Russian Business Forum
Organized by the Association of European Businesses and North-West Development and Investment Promotion Agency
St. Petersburg, Russia

26^th-29^th September 2010
IEDC 2010 Annual Conference "New Paradigms: The Practice of Economic Development in a Changed Landscape"
Organised by the International Economic Development Council - IEDC
Columbus, United States

27^th-29^th September 2010
BIC Master Class - Course n�2 "Increasing market and technological intelligence to better support your startups/SMEs" and the EBN Training - Become a BIC Expert
Organised by the EBN - European Business & Innovation Center Network
Brussels, Belgium

27^th-29^th September 2010
ICT 2010: Digitally Driven
Organised by the European Commission and hosted by the Belgian Presidency of the European Union
Brussels, Belgium

29^th September - 1^st October 2010
7^th Annual Conference of The Technopolicy Network "Building a World-Class Knowledge Region"
Organised by The Technopolicy Network in collaboration with BioRN Cluster Management GmbH
Heidelberg, Germany

29^th September - 1^st October 2010
European Cluster Conference "World-Class Clusters Renewing European Industry"
Organized under the chairmanship of the Belgian EU Presidency by the European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry
Brussels, Belgium

30^th September - 1^st  October 2010
"Celebrating 20 Years of Cooperation and Looking beyond 2013"
Organised by INTERACT and the Brussels-Walloon Region
Brussels, Belgium

4^th-7^th October 2010
8^th OPEN DAYS - European Week of Regions and Cities
Conceived and developed by the EU Committee of the Regions and the European Commission
Brussels, Belgium

4^th-5^th October 2010
8^th Annual WIPO Forum on Intellectual Property and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises for Intellectual Property Offices and Other Relevant Institutions in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Countries
Organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization
Rome, Italy

5^th October 2010
ESA Investment Forum 2010
Organised by ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) in collaboration with Europe Unlimited and Innovhub
Milan, Italy

6^th-8^th October 2010
Data and Mobility 2010 - 3^rd Lakeside Conference
Organised by the Lakeside Science and Technology Park
Carinthia, Austria

7^th-8^th October 2010
IASP European Division Workshop "Measuring the success of Science Parks"
Organised by the Manchester Science Parks
Manchester, United Kingdom

10^th-12^th October 2010
7^th WTA Daejeon High-tech Fair
Organised by the World Technopolis Association (WTA), Daejeon Metropolitan City and Daejeon Convention Bureau
Daejeon, Korea

11^th-14^th October 2010
DIT 4^th Strategic Forum/WAITRO 20^th Biennial Congress and General Assembly
Organised by Dubai Institute of Technology (DIT)/TechnoPark and WAITRO
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

12^th October 2010
Innovate!2010
Hosted by the Technology Strategy Board
London, United Kingdom

14^th October 2010
Innovation Exchange
Run by the European Private Equity & Venture Capital Assocation (EVCA), Informilo and the European Tech Tour Association (ETT)
Copenhagen, Denmark

17^th-21^st October 2010
5^th EU-China Business & Technology Cooperation Fair.China-EU Green Technology & Business Week (GTBW)
Organised by EU Project Incubation Centre - EUPIC (Chengdu)
Chengdu, P.R.China

20^th-22^nd October 2010
Triple Helix VIII - International Conference on University, Industry and Government Linkages
Organised by the International Institute of Triple Helix (IITT) and La Salle Innovation Park of Services for People
Madrid, Spain

26^th-28^th October 2010
I International Brokerage Event Innovation in Bioenergy"
Organised by AVEBIOM, in the framework of the 5th International Bioenergy Congress
Valladolid, Spain

27^th-29^th October 2010
3^rd Europe INNOVA Conference "Reshaping Europe- Addressing Societal Challenges through Entrepreneurship and Innovation"
Organised by the Region of Wallonia in collaboration with the European Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry
Li�ge, Belgium