Issue N° 121 - May 2014
Keep up to date on innovation matters worldwide with the INSME Association!
Dear INSMEnews Readers,
during a recent mission to amazing Brazil I came across this quote that I would like to share with you for further brainstorm.
There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing harder to learn
(Seneca)
…and now as usual enjoy your reading!
Ms. Christin Pfeiffer
INSME Secretary General
We welcome contributions, comments and suggestions to furthermore 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 worldwide and help them to remain competitive on an international scale.
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INSME Secretary General Ms. Christin Pfeiffer actively intervened as speaker in the National Meeting on Business Linkages organized by SEBRAE (INSME Board Member) held from the 21st to the 22nd of May in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The meeting gathered 1000+ participants and discussed challenges and opportunities that emerged from the implementation of SEBRAE's Business Linkages Program, a solution which intends to include small businesses in the value chains of large enterprises in order to contribute to the improvement of competitiveness and productivity indexes. The purpose of the Business Linkages Model is to develop and improve the ability of small businesses, so they can perform their own changes and add greater value to the business. To achieve this goal, two major elements have been taken into consideration: the technological and management demand of large enterprises and the offer of small businesses.
Learn more about the National Meeting on Business Linkages here.
From the 26th to the 28th of May, the EuroMed Investment Project has been successfully kicked off in Marseille, France. The project aims at generating sustainable and inclusive investment and trade/partnership projects by implementing targeted strategies that support the creation and the international development of SMEs in the most promising sectors for job creation and economic spillovers. EUROMED Invest primarily focuses on five key sectors: agro-food, water and alternative energies, tourism, transport and logistics and cultural and creative industries. The project plans to develop more than 127 actions (workshops, surveys, business meetings, mentoring, etc.) in 3 years in 26 countries. The project targets both private and public sector organizations, as well as business associations from the EU and South ENPI and potential EU candidates.
The project is coordinated by ANIMA Investment Network (INSME Member) and INSME contributes as an affiliated partner.
Learn more about the kick off meeting here.
In the special framework of the 10th INSME Annual Meeting, INSME and OSIBA Management (INSME Board Member) announced the 11th INSME Annual Meeting on the proposed theme "Technology and Innovation for Inclusive Growth" that will take place from the 3rd to the 5th of June 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa. INSME Members manifested their full support with regard to the inspiring business environment and landscape of South Africa.
Have a look at the dedicated website of the 10th INSME Annual Meeting here.
The powerpoint presentations of the INSME-Khalifa Fund International Conference held on the 19th of March 2014 are now available for instant downloading at the following link.
UNCTAD (INSME Member) launched a new product for research and policy analysis: the Bilateral FDI Statistics. The publication provides updated systematic data on 206 economies around the world covering inflows, outflows, inward stocks and outward stocks by region and economy. This publication will be updated every year and complemented with sectorial/industrial FDI statistics that will be presented separately.
This publication is a major effort to show comparable national data. To complement this effort, UNCTAD also provides technical assistance to support countries in providing reliable and comparable FDI data.
Read the whole publication here.
The INSME Blog community is steadily growing by attracting more and more readers thanks to precious contributions on innovation-related topics. INSME recently published a contribution from Mrs. María Lucia Castrillón Simmonds, Manager of PROPAIS (INSME Member), about the importance of updating the Colombian legal framework of classification of enterprises according to their size in order to identify smaller companies and provide them with Government support. Mrs. Castrillón Simmonds demonstrates that if WhatsApp was a Colombian company under the current legislation, it would be considered a small company and thus receive Government benefits designed for Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Thus it can be assumed that the size of a company cannot be only determined by the number of employees or total assets.
Read the PROPAIS' contribution here.
The World Economic Forum on Africa on the topic "Forging Inclusive Growth, Creating jobs" took place from the 7th to the 9th of May in Abuja, Nigeria.
The Forum was designed on three main pillars:
The event brought together regional and global leaders to discuss initiatives, structural reforms and investments, that can sustain the African continent's growth while creating jobs and prosperity.
More information about the event is available at this page.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Islamic Development Bank will launch a 120.00 $ fund to support small and medium enterprises in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region.
The Fund is part of the first agreement between the EBRD and the Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector to help develop SMEs in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
The fund will extend financing to SMEs using equity and quasi-equity structures, with the two institutions contributing capital to the fund and seeking additional institutional investors and donors.
More information available here.
In this article Zach Kitschke shares the main media trends every Start-up should know about, disclosed at the Social Media Marketing World Conference (San Diego, USA - 26th / 28th of March 2014).
According to the author these are:
Read the whole article here.
The article analyses the linkages between industry and university in Australia, with a particular focus on the process of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (TTC).
The author states that a lack of communication and trust between the partners from these two entities might paralyze a potentially successful collaboration.
Mr. Tim Mazzarol, Winthrop Professor, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Marketing and Strategy at University of Western Australia, states that a useful collaborative alliance between University and Industry can be forged, but a change of mindset is required on both sides.
The article is available at this page.
The article offers an overview on how to manage IP as a business asset, since it has been demonstrated that businesses that actively manage their IP as a financial asset outperform their peers by up to 30%.
IPR Helpdesk experts suggest that SMEs protect their IP assets by registration, considering intangible assets as key elements to provide security for financing and to improve the companies' overall performances.
Find out more here.
The call for proposal intends to provide incentives in the form of small lump sum grants to national and regional innovation agencies for engaging in peer learning on all topics relevant to design and delivery of innovation support programmes for SMEs. Peer learning activities are considered to be the tool to increase the number of innovation agencies engaged in those kinds of activities, investigate and develop a range of new topics and approaches in innovation support to SMEs and improve the quality management in innovation agencies by enhancing service delivery, customer satisfaction and learning process.
The total call budget is € 420,000 and the deadline for applications is the 16th of December 2014.
Learn more about the topic conditions and documents here.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, based in Switzerland, has just launched the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Competition to recognize outstanding social entrepreneurs around the globe. At the time of application, the candidate organization but also the individual(s) leading it, shall have already three years of operations and have implemented an innovation that took the form of:
Selected winners will be included in the Schwab Foundation network of social entrepreneurs. This includes access to a peer network of social entrepreneurs, special benefits such as pro-bono consulting services and scholarships to executive education courses at world-class institutions such as Harvard Business School, Stanford University and INSEAD. Additionally, winners will be invited to the regional meetings of the World Economic Forum which are relevant to their work. Excellent finalists or winners under 40 will also be nominated to the Young Global Leaders network of the World Economic Forum.
The deadline for applications is the 15th of July 2014.
Further information about the selection criteria is available here.
The Award aims at showcasing European Biotech SMEs that have developed an innovative solution to technical, social and environmental problems. The award is committed to strengthening the biotechnology and innovation arena in Europe while promoting and empowering SMEs to generate novel solutions to unmet needs.
Candidates must qualify as an SME under the standard EU SME definition outlined in the European Commission 'SME User Guide'. Additionally, potential winners will be those who met the following criteria: response to social/environmental needs, business strategy, raising capital and innovation.
All candidates will be awarded with two years free membership of EuropaBio and the overall winner will receive a prize of € 10,000.
The deadline for applications is the 1st of July 2014.
Read more about the award here.
The OECD Southeast Asia Regional Programme was launched during the 2014 Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris on the 6th of May 2014.
The programme aims at bringing the relationship of the OECD and Southeast Asian countries to a new, more strategic level, support domestic reform processes and contribute to regional integration initiatives. Partnership and enhanced regional integration are keys to supporting long-term growth prospects by investing in people, education and vocational training, empowering women and ensuring that policies are in place making the most of talent of the workforce. The initial areas of focus for the Programme will be tax, investment, education, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regulatory reform and public private partnerships (PPPs) to support connectivity. There will also be deeper engagement in the area of Trade and an initiative on gender.
Learn more about this initiative at the following link.
Based on a survey carried out in May 2013 and January 2014 among entrepreneurs who participated in a Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation program, the publication intends to deepen the analysis on local networking activities, such as entrepreneurs' connections to other local programs and information collection via Twitter activities.
According to the report, entrepreneurship is a local phenomenon and entrepreneurs primarily follow entrepreneurship-focused Twitter accounts, such as those by other entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial programs and individuals affiliated with local entrepreneurship support organizations. Additionally, entrepreneurial demand is high for peer-based learning and networking, as the report states that there is an increasing demand from entrepreneurs for opportunities to learn from and connect with their local peers.
Policymakers, entrepreneurship supporters, and entrepreneurs themselves should keep the locally structured nature of entrepreneurial networks in mind. Thus, it will be most effective to communicate with entrepreneurs within a local sphere.
Read the whole report here.
This paper addresses the need for research regarding the role of associations in innovation systems. As defined in the publication, the term association embraces not only organisations like business associations, but all actors who associate to pursue joint objectives and positively influence their (regional) innovation system. In the innovation system's perspective, these associations perform intermediary functions. The report considers not only the level of the organisation (i.e. meso level), but also the macro level of the innovation system and the micro level of individuals. External conditions, like the mode of governance and the logic of influence are also relevant as these define the framework conditions. Over time, associations may evolve in line with changes in the environment and internal developments. This evolution can be regarded as a life cycle which is specific to each association.
Different types of associations and their specific functions have been mentioned using the example of Germany. While each of the listed associations can be regarded as an individual case, it can also be assumed that there are certain traits which are shared by all of them.
Read the publication here.
Microsoft Innovation Centers (MIC) are facilities that provide world class resources and support for students, entrepreneurs and start-ups, accelerating the creation of new companies, jobs and growth of the local software ecosystem. On the brand new Microsoft Innovation Centres Website, it is possible to find the nearest center by region or type and directly learn from the success stories of students and entrepreneurs that benefited from this tool.
Visit the Microsoft Innovation Centres Website here.
EnterpriseInnovation.net is Asia's premier business and technology publication. It aims at providing business and technology executives access to real-world expertise in the area of applying technology to drive innovation in business processes, products and services.
Subscribe to the weekly enterprise news service here.
AGORADA 2014 - Dialogue on Eco-Innovation
Participants will also benefit from two World Café sessions to debate about topics such as: Construction/renovation, industry, agro-food, tourism, manufacturing, textiles/clothing etc.
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28th of May 2014
First Salon of Innovative Projects of the Coffee Axis
Organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Manizales (INSME Member)
Manizales, Caldas, Colombia
2nd - 6th of June 2014
2014 Summer School
Organized by TII
Tallinn, Estonia
8th - 11th of June 2014
XXV ISPIM Innovation Conference
Organized by ISPIM (INSME Member)
Dublin, Ireland
11th - 12th of June 2014
International IP Enforcement Summit
Organized by the UK Intellectual Property Office, the European Commission and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market
London, United Kingdom
12th - 13th of June 2014
Week of Innovative Regions in Europe 2014
Organized by the National Documentation Centre (EKT) and the European Commission
Athens, Greece
17th of June 2014
The European Inventor Awards 2014
Organized by the European Patent Office
Berlin, Germany
18th - 20th of June 2014
Green Ventures 2014
Organized by Green Ventures in collaboration with Laser Consult (INSME Member)
Potsdam, Germany
21st - 26th of June 2014
ESOF 2014 - Euroscience Open Forum
Organized by Euroscience
Copenaghen, Denmark
25th - 27th of June 2014
Centres Workshop 2014: Building Centre Capacity
Organized by Network for Business Sustainability (INSME Member)
Boston, USA
25th - 27th of June 2014
EBN Congress 2014
Organized by EBN Innovation Network (INSME Board Member)
Leida, Spain
27th of June - 12th of July 2014
Summer School on Management of Creativity in an Innovation Society
Organized by Hec Montréal and University of Barcelona
Montréal, Canada - Barcelona, Spain
9th of July 2014
Smart Cities, Smart Europe: Putting Our Energy into Innovation and Sustainability
Organized by Public Policy Exchange
Brussels, Belgium
17th - 19th of July 2014
International Seminar/Workshop on "Halal Food Standardization, Commercialization, Application of Food Encapsulation Technology and Food Nano Processing"
Organized by IORA RCSTT (INSME Member)
Teheran, Islamic Republic of Iran
4th - 8th of August 2014
6th Pan-African Competitiveness Forum
Organized by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH)
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
3rd - 5th of September 2014
International Educational Technology Conference
Organized by TOJET - The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology
Chicago, USA
29th of September – 1st of October 2014
2014 Good Practice Event on Entrepreneurial Universities
Organized by the University Industry Innovation Network (UIIN) and the Technical University of Madrid (UPM)
Madrid, Spain
2nd - 3rd of October
Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy
Organized by the OECD (INSME Moral Sponsor)
Tokyo, Japan
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AGORADA 2014 on "Dialogue on Eco-Innovation" will take place in Brussels, Belgium on the 16th and 17th of June 2014 within the framework of the EU co-funded project entitled GreenXpo (Maintaining all Green and Eco-Innovation Results in a Living Portal) and will be organized by EURADA (INSME Member). The event will mainly focus on two major topics "Innovations for Greening the Value Chain" and "Take up of Eco Innovation in Regional Strategies".
