Issue N° 89 - June 2011

In this Issue:

INSMEnews!

Contact the editorial staff

Keep up to date on innovation matters worldwide with the INSME Association!

"INSMEnews" is the free monthly newsletter edited since 2004 by the INSME Association Secretariat to stay updated about the activities of the International Network for SMEs, its Members and Partners worldwide.

INSME aims to promote transnational cooperation among private and public stakeholders to make innovation happen in SMEs.

"INSMEnews" is available in English, Spanish and Russian.
Sponsors and Promoters to translate this newsletter into other languages are welcome among INSME Members, international Partners and Third Parties.

We welcome contributions, comments and suggestions that can enrich this newsletter and improve our ongoing work, with the aim to support innovation intermediaries, their networking and internationalisation so as to better reach SMEs.

In this issue, you will find out more about the 7th INSME Annual Meeting’s outcomes and further updates about INSME and INSME Members activities.

Follow us also on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 


 


Enjoy your reading!

Ms. Simona Marzetti

INSME Association Secretary General

 

 

Supporting organisations:

 

Updates on the life of the INSME Network

7th INSME Annual Meeting: Outcomes

"Competitiveness, Culture and
Cross-Border Co-operation: 
Assisting SMEs to Grow, Innovate
and Reach International Markets"

23rd - 26th May, 2011
Helsinki, Finland

Around 140 innovation stakeholders from 35 Countries from all over the globe and 47 distinguished international speakers, including several entrepreneurs and International Organisations, gathered in Helsinki at the 7th INSME Association Annual Meeting.

The event, co-organised by EPROCA - the European ProClusters Association (INSME Member), has contributed to strengthen relations of the INSME Network within the European Region and abroad with a view to reinforce the Association’s mission by favouring the dissemination of good practices among different international players.

Read the speakers’ presentations made during the thematic roundtables and the International conference at: http://www.annualmeeting2011.insme.org/speakers/

On this occasion, announcement has been made of the 8th INSME Annual Meeting that will take place in Daejeon, South Korea on May 21st -24th , 2012 on "Innovation across borders: building competitive nations".

The event will be co-hosted by World Technopolis Association- WTA (INSME Member), Daejeon Metropolitan City, Innobiz Association and Daejeon Convention Center.

To view the location of the 8th INSME Annual Meeting, please, visit our portal.

Stay tuned on Twitter and LinkedIn!

Appointment of the new INSME Board (2011-2013)

On the 23rd May 2011 during the 7th INSME General Assembly, open only to the INSME Association  Members, the election of the new INSME Board for the mandate mid-2011/mid-2013 took place.

We take this occasion to renew our thanks to the former  INSME Board Members for their active work and to welcome the following new INSME Board Members:

New Members joined the Network

The INSME Secretariat is glad to announce that the following organisations have recently joined the network:

At present, the INSME Association gather 82 Members in 34 countries in 4 Continents around the World.

To find out more about the our Members please visit the dedicated webpage on the INSME Portal at: http://www.insme.org/insme-members

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News from the INSME Members

UNECE: "Policies for Innovation in the 21st Century: Broadening the Horizons of Collaboration and Risk-Sharing"

On the 12th -13th May 2011 in Geneva (Switzerland) the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe -UNECE (INSME Member) held the
Fourth Session of the Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies (TOS-ICP) and the Applied Policy Seminar on
"Policies for Innovation in the 21st Century: Broadening the Horizons of Collaboration and Risk- Sharing"
.

Download the presentations made during the Applied Policy Seminar at:
http://live.unece.org/ceci/documents/2011/icp/session4tosicp11.html

Read the two publications presented at the session of the UNECE Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies:

Finally, please see the leaflet on the forthcoming International Conference on
"Promoting Eco-Innovation: Policies and Opportunities" (Tel Aviv, Israel 11th-13th July 2011)
Download the PDF

WTA: Technopolis Review

The World Technopolis Association - WTA (INSME Member and co-organiser of the 8th INSME Annual Meeting) recently issued the Technopolis Review n.3. This annual publication deals with international innovation and technology- based issues and provides updates about  WTA activities.

Download Technopolis Review n.3 here

Find out more about WTA at: http://www.wtanet.org/Emain.mf

EBN: The Smart Guide to Innovation-based Incubators

The European Commission together with the European Business and Innovation Network (www.ebn.be) has published a new guide for those working at the interface between innovation and entrepreneurship.

As well as showcasing several case studies, the guide sets out a number of invaluable tips, including advice on strategic aims, networking and evaluation.

To find out more click here

Download the Guide in PDF format

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INSME's Picks in the News

EU: Launch of the campaign for the European SME Week

The European SME Week 2011 will take place from the 3rd to 9th of October 2011.

Coordinated by the European Commission, this campaign promotes enterprise across Europe in line with the Small Business Act for Europe and aims to:

  • provide information on what the EU and national, regional and local authorities are offering as support to micro, small and medium-sized businesses;
  • promote entrepreneurship so that more people, and in particular younger ones, seriously consider becoming an entrepreneur as a career option;
  • give recognition to entrepreneurs for their contribution to Europe's welfare, jobs, innovation and competitiveness.

Find out more at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/initiatives/sme-week/

EU: Public consultation- Small Business, Big World - A new partnership to help SMEs seize global opportunities

Objective of the consultation, by the European Commission - DG Enterprise and Industry: comments on a more integrated and coherent approach to public support for EU enterprises aiming to do business outside the EU.

Target groups: Public authorities, business support organisations including business associations, Chambers of Commerce, Trade Promotion Organisations and other public and private agencies, consultancies, small businesses (SMEs), trade unions, NGOs, workers’ and employers’ federations and all other relevant stakeholders

Period of consultation: From 16.05.2011 to 12.07.2011

Click here to download consultation and reference documents and to know how to submit a contribution.

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Partnership

EU SME Centre in China

With a view to develop mutual collaboration and create reciprocal benefits, the INSME Association has just become partner with the EU SME Centre based in Beijing, a support service provider for European Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) which aims at facilitating market access in China.

The Centre, funded by the European Union, provides free of charge practical information, advice and business tools to better equip EU SMEs to develop their business and tackle challenges faced in the Chinese market.

Visit the EU SME Centre website: http://www.eusmecentre.org.cn/

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ABOUT IPR IN CHINA

Technology Transfer to China: Guidance for Businesses

This short guide, issued by the IPR China SME Help Desk, INSME Partner, provides useful information to European companies interested to access in Chinese market, with a view to guard them against IP risks when transferring technology to China.

Download "Technology Transfer to China: Guidance for Businesses"

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Focus on...INSME Members

Small Business Foundation -Albania

The Small Business Foundation - SBF is a private non profit organisation, re-established in 1999, after the termination of the EU programme "Private Sector Development in Albania" which lasted from 1992 to 1998, in Tirana (Albania).
The Foundation provides comprehensive professional support and services to the SMEs community and related public and private supporting organizations.

SBF has recently joined INSME as Full member.

Read more at: www.sbfalbania.org

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Tenders & Calls

RegioStars 2012- Award

Organiser: European Commission

Applicants: 271 NUTS-2 regions in Europe

Aim: to identify good practices in regional development and to highlight original and  innovative projects which could be attractive and inspiring to other regions.

Awards categories

  • Smart Growth: Innovative projects or schemes supporting service innovation in its different forms.
  • Sustainable Growth: Investments in ecosystem services and green infrastructure leading to sustainable regional development.
  • Inclusive Growth: Strategies, initiatives or projects addressing the challenge of demographic change and supporting active ageing. (2012 is the "European Year of Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity")
  • Citystar Category: Integrated strategies for the development of deprived urban areas.
  • Information and Communication Category:  Informing the public on the internet about projects benefiting from EU Regional policy.

The deadline for the receipt of applications is 15th July 2011.

To find more click here

WLICSMB2011 - Call for Papers

Event: The Thirteenth West Lake International Conference on SMB - WLICSMB 2011(16-18 October 2011 in Hangzhou, China) organized by the Economic Commission, Hangzhou Municipal Government, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Small and Mid-sized Business and College of Business Administration, Zhejiang University of Technology.

Topics: SMB Innovation;SMB Crisis management; SMB Technology cooperation; Financing & Investment of SMB; Government Support Policies & SMB;High-tech SMB and Venture Capital; SMB International Cooperation; SMB Entrepreneurship; E-business for SMB;FDI of SMB; Global Network of SMB; Green Innovation for SMB;SMB Growth and Employment; Transformation and Upgrading of SMB; Family business and family development; SMB Human Resources Management; Intellectual Property Right of SMB;SMB Sustainable Development; Development Strategies of SMB; Others.

All abstracts, and subsequently full papers should be submitted electronically to zjsmbi@zjut.edu.cn

Submission deadline of paper summary: 15th August 2011

Read more at: http://www.wlicsmb.org

Veneto NanoTech: NanoChallenge and PolymerChallenge 2011- Business plan competition

Organiser: Veneto Nanotech, the Italian Cluster of Nanotechnology in collaboration with IMAST - Technological District on polymeric and composite materials engineering and structures, and INTESA San Paolo.

Applicants: Students, Researchers, Scientists, Professors, Entrepreneurs and Inventors from around the world.

Aim: to stimulate breakthrough nanotechnology applications and to attract the best entrepreneurial talents, in order to give them the opportunity to create a startup.

Total Budget: 600.000 Euro; 300.000 Euro for startups participating in the nanotechnology category and 300.000 Euro for the polymer-based materials category.

Deadline: 2nd September 2011

Find out more at: http://www.nanochallenge.com/en-US/overview

EU: 2011 CIP Eco-innovation - Call for proposals

Organiser: European Commission

Applicants:  SMEs and private beneficiaries located in 27 EU Member States, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Albania, Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Israel, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey and other non-EU countries provided they have the appropriate agreement in force.

Aim: prevention or reduction of environmental impacts or which contribute to the optimal use of resources.

Total Budget: 38 MEuros

Deadline: 8th September 2011

To learn more click here

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Interesting Initiatives

Official Launch of the GIST Program

The Global Innovation through Science & Technology (GIST) program, will run over the next two years to advance innovative scientific, academic and technological collaboration between the United States and nations in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region and Muslim Asia.

This initiative is funded by the U.S. Department of State (http://www.state.gov) and implemented by CRDF Global (http://www.crdf.org/).

The launch of the GIST Program took place on the 16th - 17th June in Rabat, Morocco.

Find out more at: http://gistinitiative.org/

Download the overview at:
http://www.crdf.org/usr_doc/CORE_GIST_Overview_032111_2_sides.pdf

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Publications

Booz & Co: 2010 Global Innovation 1000

Annual Global Innovation 1000 study by Booz & Company (www.booz.com), now in its sixth year, focused on "how the top innovators keep winning".

Year after year, certain companies succeed in producing innovative new products and services, and in doing so they generate superior financial results. The success of these companies is not a matter of how much these companies spend on research and development, but rather how they spend it.

The 2010 Global Innovation 1000 takes under consideration the particular sets of innovation capabilities - the specific talents, knowledge, teams, tools and processes - that truly innovative companies have put in place that allow them to outperform their competitors.

To find out more click here

Download the Global Innovation 1000 "How the Top Innovators Keep Winning"

OECD Reviews of Regional Innovation: Regions and Innovation Policy

Regions and Innovation Policy is the May issue of the OECD (www.oecd.org) Reviews of Regional Innovation. It addresses the needs of national and regional governments for greater clarity on how to strengthen the innovation capacity of regions.

The first part of the book examines strategies, policies and governance, explaining why regions matter, what makes smart policy mixes, and multilevel governance. The second part of the book looks at agencies, instruments and country information, showing how agencies can maximize their impact and what policy instruments work. The final chapter provides country-by-country summaries of what countries are doing.

To find out more click here

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Recommended Websites

Chamber of Eco Commerce: Eco Commerce Hub

The 'Eco Commerce Hub’, created by the Chamber of Eco Commerce (www.chamberofecocommerce.com) and Microsoft experts in Atlanta, US, fills the need to bundle together Financing, Advice, and Investment in Eco Innovation.

It is an interactive portal where enterprises can fill in their characteristics, development stage and reason for seeking finance; investors can fill in their characteristics and deals they seek to finance.

It guides SMEs to the most appropriate sources of finance or subsidy eliminating the need to fall back on expensive consultants and intermediaries. It guides investors to the 'next big thing' in Eco Innovation.

Find out more at: http://www.chamberofecocommerce.com/ecocommercehub.html

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Recommended Newsletter

Science and Technology Newsletter

Supported by the "Public Service" (www.publicservice.co.uk) Review:
European Science and Technology, the fortnightly newsletter covering the big issues in science and technology endeavour, is a groundbreaking publication considering the major science questions facing the public sector, across Europe and further afield.

To find out more click here

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Events

Highlighted events

7th - 8th July 2011
Fifth Session of the Team Specialists on Intellectual Property
Geneva, Switzerland

The UNECE - United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (INSME Member, www.unece.org), organizes the 5th Session of the UNECE Team of Specialists on Intellectual Property (TOS-IP) and the Applied Seminar on:

  • Campaigns to build respect for Intellectual Property in society;
  • Good practices on raising awareness of the economic costs and potential hazards of counterfeit goods;
  • Cooperation between public and private stakeholders in awareness raising;
  • Building awareness and incentives for IPR protection and management in research organizations;
  • Raising the awareness of entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises on sound IPR management.

To find out more click here

Download the provisional agenda for the fifth session in PDF format

11th- 13th July 2011
International Conference Promoting Eco-Innovation: Policies and Opportunities
Tel Aviv, Israel

The UNECE - United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (INSME Member, www.unece.org), in cooperation with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (www.mfa.gov.il/MFA) and the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel (www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng) is organizing the International Conference on the role of innovation policies in addressing environmental and energy challenges.

Presentations at this Conference will be structured into three main segments:

  • "Eco-innovation: what role for public policies?"
  • "Fostering collaboration for successful eco-innovation"
  • "Financing eco-innovation"

To find out more click here

Download the conference brochure in PDF format

Future International meetings, workshops, seminars selected by INSME

28th - 30th June 2011 
The R&D Management Conference 2011
Organized by Linköping University in collaboration with the Royal Institute of Technology
Norrköping, Sweden

11th - 14th July 2011
Triple Helix IX International Conference "Silicon Valley: Global Model or Unique Anomaly?"
Hosted by Stanford University's Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute (H-STAR) and Triple Helix Research Group

Stanford, CA, USA

20th- 21st July 2011
11th Annual New York Venture Summit
Organized by youngStartup Ventures
New York, United States

23rd- 24th July 2011
TEX-TEH IV 2011 - Textile Research "Active Factor for Increasing Performances and Competitiveness"
Organized by the National R&D Institute for Textile and Leather (INSME Member)

Bucharest, Romania

29th August - 2nd September 2011
Living Labs Summer School 2011
Organized by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)
Barcelona, Spain

2nd - 4th September 2011
The 16th BALTIC DYNAMICS "Cross-Regional Initiatives for Business Innovation"
Organized by Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol in cooperation with Business Support and Credit Management Foundation
Tallinn, Estonia

14th - 15th September 2011
Nanoforum 2011
Within the framework of Nanoforum Project
Rome, Italy

19th - 26th September 2011
Innovation Festival: "Design driven innovation-Social design and Design for all"
Promoted by the European Commission as part of the PRO INNO Europe Initiative
Tallinn, Estonia

21st - 23rd September 2011 
The Innovation in Financial Services Summit
Organized by the Public Research Centre Henri Tudor in partnership with ISPIM - The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (INSME Member)
Luxembourg, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg

21st- 22nd September 2011
EUROMED INVEST - The Annual Mediterranean Business Summit
Organized by the MedAlliance
Alexandria,  Egypt

26th - 28th September 2011
8th Annual Conference of the Technopolicy Network "Open Innovation for Regional Development"
Organized by Technopolicy Network
Tampere, Finland

3rd - 9th October 2011
European SME Week 2011
Organized by the European Commission
Worldwide

6th October 2011  
3rd European Conference on Corporate R&D and Innovation - CONCORD 2011 "The dynamics of Europe's industrial structure and the growth of innovative firms"
Organized by The European Commission's Directorates Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Research (RTD)
Seville, Spain

10th- 12th October  2011
XIV ForoInteramericano de la Microempresa - Foromic 2011
Organized by the InterAmerican Development Bank - IDB
San Jose, Costa Rica

17th - 19th October 2011
NASVF 2011- 18th Annual Conference "Innovation Capital: Leading America's Recovery"
Organized by NASVF-National Association of Seed and Venture Funds
Arlington-TX, United States

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