Download the speakers' presentations made at the seminar on Transnational Partnerships for Innovation and Technology Transfer in the Footwear Industry: Ideas Generation, Knowledge Exchange for Networking and Institutional Support, held in Alicante, Spain, on 25 October 2007.

 Event website
 Final programme [940 kB]


This seminar was organised by IPI (INSME full Member) in collaboration with the Spanish Footwear Center INESCOP, under the Fashion to Future (F2F) project.

Don't miss the Second Euro-Mediterranean Symposium on Innovation:

"Towards the Creation of Euromed Industrial Partnerships"
Cairo, Egypt - 7-8 November 2007

 Event website

This event is organised in the framework of the EuroMed Innovation and Technology (Medibtikar) Programme, supported by the European Commission and carried out by a consortium led by the INSME Member Intrasoft International.

The INSME Association is among the invited networks for exchanging lessons learned and experiences about transnational technology transfer.

 Download the agenda [335 Kb]

SMEIC, the SME Innovation Center of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), new INSME Member, is pleased to announce its 2007 International Conference on SME Innovation:

6-7 November 2007
Turning Technology into Business Value for SMEs
Seoul, Korea

 Event web page

INSME Board Member Mr. Furlani (Innova, Italy) is among the speakers from Europe.

 Programme [198 Kb]
 Practical information [379 Kb]

FUNDES, the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Latin America, is a private, international non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote and drive SMEs' development in Latin America. Present in 10 countries, the network works to promote innovative initiatives to help enhance business capacities and competitiveness, research and reform proposals in Latin America.

Since late October, FUNDES has joined the INSME Network.

 FUNDES Presentation [787 Kb]                             Presentación FUNDES [3.460 Kb]

In the context of the renewed Lisbon Partnership for Growth and Jobs, a declaration on financing innovation was signed at the Portuguese European Union Presidency Forum Financing Innovation - From Ideas to Market, held at Estoril (Portugal) on the 8th and 9th of October 2007.

The declaration calls for:

• a stronger entrepreneurial attitude as a means to help transform interesting and new ideas and discoveries into new products and services;
• measures to improve companies' ability to attract investors (Investment Readiness);
   
• the right environment for new companies to flourish, avoiding inappropriate and costly legislative, fiscal or regulatory systems;
   
• the channelling of savings into young companies, also  through public risk sharing schemes whenever needed, to encourage private investment into market failure areas.

Please refer to the website of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council for the full text of the declaration:
 http://www.eu2007.pt/UE/vEN/Noticias_Documentos/20071012DeclarationEstoril.htm

The Eurostars Programme addresses research and innovation-performing businesses that fulfil the EU definition of an SME, are based in a Eurostars participating country and invest 10% or more of full-time equivalent or annual turnover in research activities.

First application cut-off date:
Friday 8 February 2008

 Guidelines for applicants [1.671 Kb]
 Submit your application

� Call for papers

Conference Title: "Open Innovation: Creating Products and Services through Collaboration" (Tours, France, 15-18 June 2008)

Call Issuer: International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM), INSME Member.

Deadline for submitting abstracts: December 31, 2007.

Submissions from academics, consultants and managers on Open Innovation (OI) and other innovation-related topics are strongly encouraged. For topics and information on how to participate, please download the text of the call:
 http://www.ispim.org/conference/files/ISPIM_2008_Call_for_papers.pdf [133 Kb]

Guidelines for authors and paper templates are available at:
 http://www.ispim.org/conference/CFP.html

This Forum represents a multiple and collective institutional platform for private and public institutional key players interested in applying knowledge and technological innovation to the development of European and Latin American regions. It is a network to carry out entrepreneurial actions that contribute to achieve knowledge-based competitiveness strategies.

It is promoted by Torino Wireless Foundation (TWF), Italy.

For further information:
 http://www.forumtorino.org

iDisc - the infoDev Incubator Support Center - is an outcome of infoDev's Incubator Initiative, an initiative started in 2002 to support organisations promoting ICT-enabled innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries.

Since 2002, infoDev has provided financing (grants) and technical assistance to more than 60 incubators around the world. Through regional and international conferences, many incubators expressed that a key value of infoDev's Incubator Initiative was the opportunity to connect with other similar organisations around the world to exchange ideas, lessons and create partnerships across national boundaries.

It is against this background that infoDev is providing iDisc as a virtual networking and knowledge-sharing platform for business development organisations leveraging ICT to facilitate entrepreneurship and new business creation in the developing world.

 iDisc Presentation [265 Kb]

A recently published report of the World Bank ranks countries where to do business, from the easiest to the most difficult places.

The "ease of doing business" index averages the country's percentile rankings on 10 topics: starting a business, dealing with licences, employing workers, registering property, etc. For the second year running Singapore tops the ranking (view economy ranking at:
 http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/).

However, the Doing Business 2008 report shows that many countries are making it easier to do business and identifies 200 reforms in 98 countries, with Egypt being top reformer (download the report overview to view reformers' ranking:
 http://www.doingbusiness.org/documents/DB-2008-overview.pdf)

Source International Finance Corporation (IFC) News:
 http://ifc.org/ifcext/media.nsf/Content/Doing_Business_2008

A recent World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, "Entrepreneurship and Firm Formation Across Countries", examines trends in business start-up and entrepreneurship across 84 different countries.

Among its main findings:

• rates of new business entry (new firms as a percentage of total firms) are fairly consistent in developing and in industrialized economies (averaging from 7 to 10%);
   
• when looking at business starts by sector an asymmetry emerges: in industrialized economies, business and service sector firms dominate. In developing economies retail/trade and finance, insurance, and real estate firms dominate;
   
• electronic registration procedures are important to encourage business.

You can download and order the report from the World Bank website.

UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) Statistical Division has released a profile of social and economic indicators for each of its 56 member countries.

Each profile contains:

• General information
• Population pyramid
• Gender statistics
• Employment and unemployment
• Economic statistics

"UNECE Countries in Figures 2007" is available for sale from the United Nations Bookshops in Geneva and New York.



For further information:
 http://www.unece.org/stats/profiles2007/Welcome.html
 support.stat@unece.org

This newly released report, edited by the Asian Development Bank, throws a spotlight on a variety of structural issues in developing Asia, foreseeing how the next few decades will depend on the context of global economic movements. In particular, it examines the likelihood of a more abrupt deceleration in the developing Asia's prodigious growth registered through the first half of 2007 and driven mainly by fast growth in the GDP of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and India.

 www.arceit.org

The Arab Regional Center for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (ARCEIT) has renewed its website. ARCEIT is a programme of UNIDO-ITPO Bahrain (United Nations Industrial Development Organization - Investment and Technology Promotion Office) and is a Partner of INSME.

Its mission is to strengthen capacities of selected countries in the Arab and Asian region in promoting domestic investment and facilitating entrepreneurship, with the ultimate goal of creating jobs, alleviating poverty and making the local economy grow.

Find out more about the Bahrain - Arab Model for enterprise development and investment promotion:
 http://www.arceit.org/ED.php

Consult a list of specific ARCEIT training courses at
 http://www.arceit.org/programs.php

Related reading:
 INSME's Interview with ARCEIT Coordinator, Mr. Afif Barhoumi

 http://mediterraneanexchange.unido.org

This is the Internet-based networking platform of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)'s regional initiative to promote foreign investment and SME development in the  MENA Region (Middle East and North Africa).

The operational core of the Mediterranean Exchange platform is the Marketplace section, which enables offers and requests for cooperation from all network partners to be promoted worldwide. The Marketplace features:
- Investment and cooperation opportunities
- Export consortia business opportunities
- Technology opportunities
- Product Offers and Requests

Learn more about the platform and its mission at:
 http://mediterraneanexchange.unido.org/main2.asp?id=7&lan=en

This is the information tool of the European IPR Helpdesk project, aimed at assisting potential and current contractors taking part in EU funded research and technological development projects on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues.

The IPR Helpdesk Bulletin features experts articles, success stories and good practice reports. It is published bi-monthly in six languages: English, Spanish, French, Polish, German, Italian.

Read the latest issue at:
 http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/newsletter/cuerpo.jsp?seccion=newsletter&len=en

To subscribe for free, please refer to:
 http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/controlador/services/subscribe?seccion=subscribe&len=en

 Learn more about the IPR-Helpdesk

Here is a sampling of upcoming and future conferences, meetings, workshops and seminars selected from the Events section of the INSME portal, which contains a complete searchable listing.

You can also receive by e-mail a weekly list of future events by subscribing to the INSME E-Mail Alert at http://www.insme.org/.

NOVEMBER 2007

5 November 2007
Enterprising Women
Organised by the National Women's Enterprise Task Force.
Basingstoke, United Kingdom

7-10 November 2007
28th ASEM National Conference - Innovative Management Innovation in a Flattened World
Hosted by The University of Tennessee.
Chattanooga, Tennessee

8-10 November 2007
World Science Forum
Organised by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in partnership with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the EU Commission.
Budapest, Hungary

9-14 November 2007
5th Creative Clusters Conference
London, United Kingdom

12-14 November 2007
BIOEurope 2007 - The 13th Annual International Partnering Conference
Organised by Biotechnology Industry Organisation, in collaboration with EBD Group (Conferences & Consulting for the Life Sciences) and EBE (European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises).
Hamburg, Germany

13 November 2007
EBN Clusters Seminar - The International Dimension Of Clusters
Organised by the European BIC Network (EBN, INSME Member) in the framework of and in cooperation with CréaWAL Forum for Actors of Economic Growth (Walloon Government).
Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

13-14 November 2007
EPO Online Services Annual Conference 2007 - "End-to-End Electronic Processing - How to Survive when the EPO no Longer Accepts Paper"
Organised by the European Patent Office.
Como, Italy

15-16 November 2007
Agorada 2007+ - Innovation in Business Support Service Schemes
Brussels, Belgium 

16-18 November 2007
4th Science Parks' Summit
Organised by the Mersin University - IEEE ODT� ö�renci Kolu.
Mersin, Turkey

18-20 November 2007
Woman Global Economic Forum - "Woman as an Effective Partner in the Economy Development"
Organised by the United Arab Emirates Business Women Council in cooperation with Seagull Exhibitions & Conferences under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

19-20 November 2007
Italian and Us Conference on Technology Transfer
Organised by the Italian Patent & Trademark Office (UIBM) in cooperation with The Embassy of the United States.
4th Roving Workshop on Dissemination of IP Knowledge
Jointly organised by the Italian Patent & Trademark Office (UIBM) and the European Patent Office (EPO).
Rome, Italy

19 November 2007
The Role of Intangibles as a Tool for Raising Finance
Training on Intellectual Capital Readiness. Organised by WIPO-UNECE-MetaGroup-EBAN.
Geneva, Switzerland
 Agenda [101 Kb]

19-21 November 2007
IASP Latin American Conference on Science and Technology Parks 2007 - Networking, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Development
Organised by the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Per� and PERUINCUBA.
Lima, Peru 

20 November 2007
Sixth EBAN Winter University
Organised in collaboration with Go Beyond.
Geneva, Switzerland
 Agenda [149 Kb]

20 November 2007
3rd Medinnov Forum on Innovation Networks in the Mediterranean
Organised by the ANIMA Network Association.
Marseille, France 

21-22 November 2007
International Conference on Managing, Financing and Protecting Innovation
Organised by the European Patent Academy, the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM) and Venice International University (VIU).
San Servolo Island, Venice, Italy

21-22 November 2007
Europe-Mediterranean Clusters Conference
Organised by the  French Industrial Districts Club.
Marseille, France

26-27 November 2007
3rd Policy Dialogue Conference on Transnational Foresight as a Policy Planning Tool
Organized by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) of the Greek Ministry of Development and the Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET), INSME Member.
Athens, Greece

27 November 2007
Round Table: Sustainability and Functional Materials - Nanotechnology
Organised by the University of Montreal in cooperation with the Embassy of Italy, Office of the Scientific Attaché.
Montreal, Canada

27 November 2007
MENA-OECD Business Forum, including First MENA-OECD Women Business Leaders Forum
Organised by the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Investment Programme in cooperation with the Ministry of Investment of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Cairo, Egypt

28 November 2007
Second MENA-OECD Ministerial Meeting - "Making Reforms Succeed: Moving Forward with the Investment Policy Agenda"
Organised in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 's Initiative on Governance and Investment for Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Cairo, Egypt

28-29 November 2007
TAFTIE Annalis 2007: New Frontiers of Innovation - A Look at Beyond ERA
Organised by the Association for Technology Implementation in Europe (TAFTIE).
Istanbul, Turkey

29-30 November 2007
The sixth Annual Conference and Award on Best Practices in Science Based Incubators - "Expanding the Incubators Function"
Organised by Science Alliance.
Seville, Spain

DECEMBER 2007

2-4 December 2007
MANUFUTURE 2007 Conference - "Constructing a Sustainably Competitive Europe"
Promoted by the MANUFUTURE (the European technology platform on future manufacturing technologies), the main objective of this event is to debate the future of the European manufacturing industry and the conditions for its sustained development, with a special emphasis on the investment in research and development and in the upgrading of human resources.
Porto, Portugal

3-4 December 2007
Responsible Partnering between Research and Industry: Progress and Remaining Challenges in Effective Collaboration and Knowledge and Technology Transfer
Lisbon, Portugal 

5-6 December 2007
4th International Conference on Innovation & Management
Organised by Yamaguchi University, Graduate School of Innovation and Technology Management.
Yamaguchi, Japan 

5-7 December 2007
UNECE Committee on Economic Cooperation and Integration
Organised by UNECE, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
Geneva, Switzerland

6-7 December 2007
InterCluster 2007
First European conference dealing with strategic cooperation between clusters.
Brussels, Belgium

10-11 December 2007
European Venture Contest 2007 - Final Jury Presentations & Award Ceremony
The 25 top companies of the Contest will present their case to a high level jury of international investors.
Barcelona, Spain

11-12 Decembre 2007
EBN Technical Seminar - Building EC Projects
Organised by the European BIC Network (EBN, INSME Member). Focus will be on Interreg IV, Regions for Economic Change, and the CIP (Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme).
Brussels, Belgium

11-14 December 2007
Technological and Innovation Bridge in Barcelona for European ICT companies
Organised by the Barcelona Activa together with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.
Barcelona, Spain 

12-14 December 2007
Inno Design Tech Expo
Organised by TDC Trade and co-organised by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and Hong Kong Design Centre.
Hong Kong 
 
13-15 December 2007
33rd EIBA Annual Conference
Organised by the University of Catania, Italy.
Catania, Italy