Issue N 12 - June 2004
In this Issue:
Life of the Network
New INSME brochure released
INSME Promotion Video
INSME at the II OECD Conference on SMEs (Istanbul, 3-5 June 2004)
INSME at the EBN Congress (Malaga, 16-19 June 2004)
INSME at the IRC Network Annual Meeting (Vienna, 7-9 June 2004)
News from the INSME Members
"FASHION NET" Project: report on the kick-off meeting (Rome, 17-18 June 2004)
IKED Study on SMEs and Innovation in the Baltic Countries and Poland
INSME Activities
Launching the INSME Portal E-mail Alert
Italian-Tunisian Project for Technical Centres Networking
INSME Award 2005 - Call for application is now open!
Joint INSME-WASME Training
INSME's Interviews
Part 2 of the interview with Italian Venture Capitalist Elserino Piol
Partnerships
New Partners for INSME
Development Gateway Foundation
Gate2Growth
World Technopolis Association
Sponsorships
Support the INSME Association
Events
Upcoming workshops, seminars, meetings
 

 
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Dear INSMEnews Readers,

as you can see, a new slogan marks the opening of this June issue: "Making Innovation Happen". In short, this can be regarded the theme of our activities. This slogan is not only an ambitious goal for the INSME Association, but also a message for decision-makers and SMEs, both facing the challenges of globalisation.

We are pleased to provide you with our most recent endevours and after only 4 months of activity, we feel that the Association can be happy with the results so far.

After receiving the moral sponsorship of the OECD, the INSME Association has been recently granted consultative status by UNIDO's Industrial Development Board, thus strengthening its relationship with two international organisations working on SME issues with a view to cultivating our connection with them and creating joint activities.

Moreover, new partnerships between INSME and other initiatives have been established in order to consolidate and promote the Association.

Since last February, participation in the Network has also been increasing on a regular basis. The INSME Association now has 28 Members including governmental bodies, international organisation and NGOs, networks and intermediaries acting in the field of innovation and technology transfer to SMEs. Furthermore, the presence of over 100 representatives from 49 countries in the INSME Advisory Group validates the growing interest of organisations from all over the world in linking and networking with us.

INSME's ongoing operational activities were assessed and given a boost during the First INSME Board Meeting which took place in Istanbul on June 1, 2004 (view our Photo Gallery). In particular, the proposals received by the INSME Secretariat for co-hosting the next INSME Annual Meeting in early 2005 were discussed on this occasion. We thank all applicants for their commitment in this regard. The time and location for this 3-day event will be decided by the INSME Board in mid-July, so don't miss the next issue of our newsletter! The Meeting should indicatively take place in late February-March 2005 (view the guidelines for co-hosting the INSME Annual Meeting).

Finally, a new online service is just being launched by the INSME Secretariat: the INSME E-mail Alert, which will allow all INSME portal users to stay up-to-date with new events in the field of innovation, technology transfer and SMEs related issues.

Thank you for your interest in our work.

Don't forget to contact us for any feedback on the Association's activitivies or any proposals, ideas and news you feel relevant for our Network, that is for our Members.

Ms. Simona Marzetti
INSME Secretary General

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Life of the Network
   New INSME brochure released

Download the updated version of the INSME Brochure:
  INSME Brochure (EN)

French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese translations are also available:
  French Version
  Italian Version
  Spanish Version
  Portuguese Version

 

   INSME Promotion Video

Enjoy the 3 minute promotion video of the INSME Association, presented at the First INSME Association Board Meeting (Istanbul, 1 June 2004).

View the video:
  http://www.insme.org/

 

   INSME at the II OECD Conference on SMEs (Istanbul, 3-5 June 2004)

Mr. J. Ramon F. Cienfuegos, Mr. Thomas Andersson and Ms. Simona Marzetti, respectively President, Vice-President and Secretary General of the INSME Association participated in the Second OECD Ministerial Conference on Small and Medium Enterprises which took place on June 3-6, 2004, in Istanbul (Turkey) and focused on Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovative SMEs in a Global Economy - Towards a More Responsible and Inclusive Globalisation.

Different events were organised in the framework of this Conference. Apart from the Ministerial Meeting (June 4-5), a Business Symposium (3 June), a Global Marketplace (3-6 June) and a Women Entrepreneurs Forum (5-7 June) took place. Over 600 people from 70 countries attended.

At the INSME information booth set up for the occasion within the Global Marketplace several bilateral meetings and fruitful contacts took place and the Secretariat is already working on follow-up activities in this regard.

Visit our Photo Gallery to enjoy a few moments of this event.

At the end of the Conference, the Istanbul Ministerial Declaration was adopted, indicating the priorities for national and multilateral policies for SMEs.

The Ministerial Declaration also refers to INSME. Welcoming the actions that have been undertaken since the First OECD Ministerial Conference in 2000, it reads: Following a successful feasibility study, the International Network for SMEs (INSME) was set up on the initiative of Italy. INSME is a non-profit international association aimed at improving transnational co-operation and public and private partnership in the field of innovation and technology transfer to SMEs. INSME, which groups a number of OECD and non-OECD stakeholders, including governments, benefits from OECD sponsorship (page 2 of the Ministerial Declaration).

Download the Istanbul Ministerial Declaration:
  Fostering the Growth of Innovative and Internationally Competitive SMEs

Visit the Conference website:
  http://www.oecd-istanbul.sme2004.org

Proceedings of this prominent event in hard copy and cd-rom version are currently being prepared by the OECD and the Turkish authorities.

 

   INSME at the EBN Congress (Malaga, 16-19 June 2004)

Mr. Mariano G. Cordone, Deputy Head of the INSME Secretariat, represented the INSME Association at the 13th Congress of the European Business and Innovation Centres Network (EBN) held in M�laga, Spain from the 16th to 19th of June. This event was an additional, useful occasion for the INSME Association to broaden contacts and strengthen synergies with the EBN Secretariat and some of the EBN Members.

Focused on Industry leaders and small business leading the way together", the meeting included discussion on new models of partnership between industry leaders and clusters of innovative start-ups and SMEs as a new mission for BICs and R&D oriented incubation programmes.

During the Congress, the election of the new EBN President also took place: Mr. Jean Francois Balducchi, director of Atlanpole (French technopole and incubator), was appointed.

View pictures of the event:
  News in Pictures - 13th EBN Congress

 

   INSME at the IRC Network Annual Meeting (Vienna, 7-9 June 2004)

"New Frontiers - New Challenges" was the main theme of the 2004 IRC Network Annual Meeting.

The newly appointed EU Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, Mr. Jan Figel, opened the meeting with a speech focused on "Entrepreneurship: Innovation success factors in building the new EU context".

Several EU and extra-EU Innovation Relay Centres were present at the meeting (for a full list of existing IRCs, go to http://irc.cordis.lu/whoswho/home.cfm). To be noted participation from EuroChile Fundacion Empresarial Comunidad Europea-Chile.

INSME participated with an information stand where Dr. Silvia Grandi and Ms. Francesca Giannotti from the INSME Secretariat illustrated the Network's objectives and activities. Other European initiatives were present, among which: CORDISGate2Growth (G2G), the Euro InfoCentres and IPR Helpdesk.

View pictures of the event:
  News in Pictures - 8th IRC Network Annual Meeting 2004

 

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News from the INSME Members
   "FASHION NET" Project: report on the kick-off meeting (Rome, 17-18 June 2004)

On June 17-18, 2004, the FASHION NET project kick-off meeting took place in Rome at IPI's headquarters. It was the first occasion in which all 16 project partner organisations, coordinated by IPI (consortium leader), gathered to agree on a common operative strategy in order to launch the project activities. 

The FASHION NET project foresees actions aimed at fostering the use of Economic and Technological Intelligence (ETI) tools among SMEs of the textile and clothing sector. Over 24 months, workshops, seminars, exchanges of personnel, conferences, promotion and dissemination activities will be undertaken in order to foster the role of intermediary organisations for innovation and technology transfer to SMEs and promoting SMEs' access to the opportunities offered by the European Union's Sixth Framework Programme for R&D (FP6), under which the project is funded.

Among the FASHION NET's activities, the launch of a project website. Fashionnet.org is a useful and handy tool for the exchange of information on the fashion sector not only among the project partners. As a matter of fact it is accessible to all players of the textile and clothing sector: SMEs, intermediaries and experts interested in having an insight of fashion best practices, innovative trends & foresights. News and updated information about sectoral events are also available.

Moreover a Fashion Net Opening Conference will be held in Madrid (Spain) in the framework of the Textilmoda Fair, that will take place on September 28-30, 2004. A call for papers and details on how to apply as a conference speaker will be available by mid-July on the FASHION NET website.

For further details please contact the INSME Secretariat:
Ms. Francesca Giannotti
  giannotti@ipi.it

phone: +39.06.80972519
fax: +39.06.80972443

 

   IKED Study on SMEs and Innovation in the Baltic Countries and Poland

On May 1st, ten new countries joined the European Union, marking the end of an extensive and historically unique political negotiation process.

Now that accession is a fact, one of the big questions on the minds of politicians, businessmen, academics and citizens of the enlarged Union is what effect will these countries have on the economic stability and growth prospects for Europe? In particular, will the companies in these new Member Countries be able to inject a dose of dynamism and spread the entrepreneurial fighting spirit to old Member Countries? Or will they, instead, converge to the same slow growth, high unemployment trap that now plagues the majority of countries in the old EU-15?

In a newly published report by IKED-International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (INSME Member), and NAEH-Danish Agency for Enterprise and Housing entitled Competing in the Single Market - SMEs and Innovation in the Baltic Countries and Poland, the conditions fostering SMEs and innovation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are discussed.

The report concludes that SMEs are of crucial importance, as agents of economic renewal and innovation, and for securing the future competitiveness of the transition economies. Although all four countries have come a long way in establishing support organizations and policy mechanisms geared towards supporting SMEs, SME policies are generally not incorporated into the wider context of the national innovation system. More efforts must be made towards linking SME policies with innovation policies, and seeking synergies between industry, academia and government.

Download  the report from the INSME portal:
  Competing in the Single Market - SMEs and Innovation in the Baltic Countries and Poland

Contact IKED for further information:
  info@iked.org
  http://www.iked.org

 

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INSME Activities
   Launching the INSME Portal E-mail Alert

The INSME Secretariat is pleased to announce that a new online service is now available for all the INSME portal users: the E-mail Alert.

This service is designed to inform subscribers about the new contents added to the Events Section of our portal and, for those subscribers who are also INSME Members, new messages posted on the Discussion Rooms and Thematic Working Groups which they participate in.

The E-mail Alert related to the Events Section will be sent once a week.

To subscribe to the INSME E-mail Alert go to:
  http://www.insme.org

For further information contact the INSME Secretariat:
Mr. Alessandro Sisti
  sisti@ipi.it
phone: +39.06.80972225
fax: +39.06.80972443

 

   Italian-Tunisian Project for Technical Centres Networking
Ms. Simona Marzetti (INSME Secretary General)Mr. Corbó (IPI - Director General)Mr. S.E. M. Fethi Mardassi (Minister of Industry and Energy, Tunisia)Mme. Neila Gongi (Director General of the Tunisian Industry Ministry)On the occasion of the Second OECD Conference on SMEs (Istanbul, 3-5 June 2004) a Cooperation Agreement between IPI (Italian Institute for Industrial Promotion) and the Ministry of Industry and Energy of Tunisia was signed.

The Agreement sets the mutual rules for the management of a bilateral initiative called Italian-Tunisian Network of Intermediaries to approach International Markets. This joint project addresses the need of improving the technical and managerial capacity of a selected number of Tunisian technical centres to work internationally. The centres involved are CETTEX (Technical Centre for Textiles), CETIME (Technical Centre for Engineering and Electrical Industries), CNCC (Technical Centre for Leather and Shoes) and PACKTEK (Technical Centre for Packaging).

A specific survey on the potentialities of the above mentioned Tunisian centres to be involved in international activities will be soon undertaken. In addition, pilot actions involving Italian and Tunisian technical centres will be promoted, like joint participation in project proposals and a partenariat event. Given its scope and its methodological approach, this initiative can be regarded an INSME Pilot project.

For further details please contact the INSME Secretariat:
Ms. Francesca Giannotti
  giannotti@ipi.it
phone: +39.06.80972519
fax: +39.06.80972443

 

   INSME Award 2005 - Call for application is now open!

The INSME Association launches a call for applications for the first edition of its award, whose main theme is "Innovation for Success: Locally adopted, Globally replicable".

The INSME Award 2005 is a prize that will be assigned to intermediaries or their networks in order to acknowledge the success or the importance of the activities and initiatives they have undertaken at international, regional, national or sub-national level.

Detailed information on eligibility, award categories, evaluation procedure, prizes and how to apply are available on the INSME portal at:
  http://www.insme.org/

You can also download the full text of the call:
  Word version (758 kb)
  Pdf version (193 kb)

The deadline for applications is November 5, 2004.

We look forward to receiving your applications. We appreciate your help in diffusing this information.

Applications must be sent to the INSME Secretariat:
  secretariat@insme.it
fax: +39.06.80972443 (to the attention of Ms. Francesca Giannotti)

 

   Joint INSME-WASME Training

Apply now for the INSME-WASME Training Programme on Management of Innovation and Technology Transfer being held in New Delhi from 12 to 15 October 2004! The deadline for reduced fees available for those who are not full INSME Members or WASME and WAITRO Members is approaching (July 31).

If you are interested, we also invite you to consider finding a public or private sponsor to finance your participation in the training. In this case, we can offer the sponsor to post its logo on the INSME and WASME portal web page dedicated to the training programme, on the final version of the training course agenda and on the proceedings from the training.

APCTT-Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology is the new partner joining this programme.


For further information contact the INSME Secretariat:
Mr. Enrico Callegati
  callegati@ipi.it
Phone: +39-06-80972.477
Fax: +39-06-80972.443

Details about the joint INSME-WASME Training Programme are available at:
  http://www.insme.org/

Download the application form:
  INSME-WASME Training

 

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INSME's Interviews
   Part 2 of the interview with Italian Venture Capitalist Elserino Piol

Mr. Elserino Piol What aspects does a venture capitalist take into consideration when an entrepreneur presents his/her idea? How does he/she prioritise these aspects? How important is the entrepreneur's personality?

These are a few aspects of a venture capitalist's job that are investigated in Part 2 of the interview with Italian Venture Capitalist Mr. Elserino Piol (Pino Venture), given to INSME Editorial Staff in May 2004.

Read Part 2 of the Interview at:
  http://www.insme.org/

Part 1 is available at:
  http://www.insme.org/

If you are interested in an interview with INSME, contact the INSME Secretariat:
  secretariat@insme.it

 

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Partnerships
   New Partners for INSME

The development of connections and synergies with other Organisations or initiatives active at international or regional level in the field of Innovation and SMEs is crucial for the consolidation of the INSME Association so as to maximise efforts and results by sharing skills and knowledge for common goals and mutual benefits.

After CORDIS, the LEED Programme, UNIDO Exchange and IM-Boot partnerships have been recently established between INSME and the Development Gateway Foundation, the Gate2Growth Initiative (G2G) and the World Technopolis Association (WTO).

The full list of INSME Partners is available at:
  http://www.insme.org/

Are you interested in becoming a partner? Contact the INSME Secretariat:
Mr. Mariano G. Cordone
secretariat@insme.it
phone: +39.06.80972.472
fax: +39.06.80972.443

We are pleased to introduce to you our new Partners.

 

   Development Gateway Foundation

The Development Gateway Foundation is a non profit organisation dedicated to increasing government efficiency, improving donor coordination, sharing knowledge for development and empowering local communities.

This organisation manages a portal, www.developmentgateway.org, which represents and interactive site for information on development and poverty reduction and provides a space for sharing experiences on development efforts.

INSME will participate in the Knowledge Economy Community, an online community of more than 7000 professionals from 150 countries around the world interested in discussing how developing countries and transition economies can leverage knowledge to enhance economic competitiveness.

 

   Gate2Growth

Gate2Growth (G2G) is a European Commission-backed initiative whose purpose is to support innovative entrepreneurship in Europe. To this aim, it provides access to a network that allows entrepreneurs to advertise their business plan, get in touch with service providers from all over Europe and contact investors interested in new business ideas.

The partnership with G2G will allow INSME Members to benefit for free from the services offered by the G2G portal to registered users. For detailed information on the benefits of this partnership, contact the INSME Secretariat:
Mr. Enrico Callegati
  callegati@ipi.it
Phone: +39-06-80972.477
Fax: +39-06-80972.443

 

   World Technopolis Association

The World Technopolis Association (WTA) is an international organisation aimed at promoting regional development through exchanges and cooperation among science cities. Based in Korea, WTA will hold its annual Technopolis Summit, which includes a meeting of the IV General Assembly and an academic symposium, on 1-3 September in Uppsala, Sweden. Main topic: "Regional Development Strategies built on Co-operation between Business, Science and Society".

 

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Sponsorships
   Support the INSME Association

INSME welcomes financial sponsorship from public and private bodies and moral sponsorship from International Organisations.

Through INSME, Sponsors are able to communicate, both virtually and face to face, with Policy Makers, Intermediaries and SMEs. Through its ever growing network, its widely distributed monthly newsletter, daily updated Internet portal and regular events, the Association offers a wide range of benefits for every typology of Sponsor.

View the benefits of becoming an INSME Sponsor:
  http://www.insme.org/

For further information, contact the INSME Secretariat:
Ms. Carla Fritz
  secretariat@insme.it
phone: +39.06.80972.497
fax: +39.06.80972.443

 

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Events
   Upcoming workshops, seminars, meetings
  1. Internationalizing Entrepreneurship Education and Training
    The 14th Global IntEnt Conference
    Naples, Italy
    05-07.07.2004

  2. Workshop on "Finance in Framework Six"
    The Financial Principles of the EU Sixth Framework Programme
    Hamburg, Germany
    06.07.2004

  3. Workshop on "Knowledge Sharing, Creativity & Innovation"
    Designed to help individuals and organisations develop their own approach to innovating through the introduction of simple, creative techniques to focus and enable creative thinking
    London, United Kingdom
    07.07.2004

  4. Implications of ICT and E-Business for Productivity and Competitiveness
    Organised by the European Commission within the e-Business W@tch Programme
    Brussels, Belgium
    07.07.2004

  5. Lessons Learned from Different Strategies in Technology Based Start-up Processes: Key Elements
    Workshop organised by FEDIT, the Spanish Federation of Innovation and Technology Organisations
    Madrid, Spain
    09.07.2004

  6. Euro-mediterranean Working Group on Industrial Co-operation
    Brussels, Belgium
    12-13.07.2004

  7. Academy of World Business, Marketing & Management Development Conference
    Organised by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ Australia)
    Queensland, Australia
    13-16.07.2004

  8. 15th International Conference on SMEs (ICSME)
    Organised by the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME)
    To be attended by Ms. Simona Marzetti, INSME Secretary General
    Abuja, Nigeria
    19-22.07.2004

Would you also like your events to be included in the next issues? If so, contact us.

 

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INSME Secretariat
c/o IPI – Institute for Industrial Promotion
Viale M. Pilsudski, 124
00197 Rome
Italy
Tel. +39-06-80972466
      +39-06-80972484
Fax +39-06-80972443
E-mail: secretariat@insme.it

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Via Bernardino Zenale, 11
20123 Milan - Italy
Tel.: +39 02 43440201
Fax +39 02 43440222
E-mail: webmaster@insme.it

Web sites: www.insme.org | www.ipi.it | www.riditt.it
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