20-23 April, 2009
Dubai, UAE

DIT SMEs Forum
holding
V INSME Annual Meeting on


Building a Knowledge based eco-system for SMEs: Finance, Innovation, Technology and Networking

Online registration form available:
 for INSME Members
 for non-INSME Members

Participation in the Conference is free of charge for all registered participants, limited seats available. Registration prior to the event is compulsory.

 Download the provisional agenda.

To stay updated with the 2009 INSME Annual Meeting, co-hosted by Dubai Institute of Technology (DIT) - Dubai TechnoPark, visit the dedicated website: 
 http://www.annualmeeting2009.insme.org/ 

or contact the INSME Secretariat at:

 insme2009dubai@insme.it

For accommodation suggestions visit:
 http://www.annualmeeting2009.insme.org/accommodation.html

As a follow up to the IV INSME Annual Meeting, held in Canton in July 2008, INSME and the EU Project Incubation Centre (EUPIC) based in Chengdu, (P.R. China), signed in February a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the spirit of an open partnership with the aim to better promote bilateral information exchange and cooperation in the fields of innovation, science and technology transfer to SMEs.
This agreement is intended to facilitate the mutual exchange of expertise and good practices and help INSME Members interested to start and grow in the Chinese market.

Read about the upcoming Fair in Chengdu Sichuan Province, P. R. China on EU-China Business &Technology Cooperation Fair IV to be held on the 15-16 October 2009.

Easy4Med is the first Early Stage Investment Forum for Mediterranean Ventures and Investors which will be held in Milan, Italy, in mid-November 2009.
This event, jointly organised by the Italian Business Angels Network-IBAN and META Group and promoted by the INSME Association, will represent a unique opportunity for selected entrepreneurs from Italy, Spain, France and Slovenia to interact with an international group composed of early stage investors from several countries.

Read more: 
 Easy4Med

More information will be available at the V INSME Annual Meeting in Dubai on 20-23 April, 2009 where both META Group and IBAN will be present.

For further details, please contact directly the organisers:
 segreteria@iban.it or info@meta-group.com

The Inter-American Investment Corporation - IIC launched on March 2009, in the English-speaking Caribbean Countries (The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago), the FINPYME, a program which aims to improve competitiveness and access to commercial credit in favour of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

For further information please read the press release.

Learn more about FINPYME at the site:
 www.finpyme.org

The European Commission, Directorate-General (DG) for Enterprise and Industry has just launched a public consultation on effectiveness of innovation support to improve the public innovation support mechanisms in the EU, against the background of constantly evolving innovation patterns in enterprises.

The consultation consists of two online questionnaires: one is addressed to European companies to provide their views on the direction of future innovation support policies and instruments in the EU; the other is addressed to European institutional public stakeholders to give their opinion on innovation support in Europe.

All opinions will be welcome until 4 May 2009. The results of the consultation will be published in June 2009.

Download the questionnaires:
 Online questionnaire for companies
 Online questionnaire for institutional stakeholders

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders, based in the UAE, is a governmental organisation aimed at fostering the entrepreneurial spirit in the city of Dubai by creating a business enabling environment to facilitate the development of new businesses and stimulate entrepreneurial activities among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

It supports SMEs run by UAE nationals to actively participate in the economic growth of Dubai, through promoting entrepreneurship and providing a wide package of services that include Development Advisory, Capability Building, Business Incubation, One-Stop Licensing, Funding, and Market Access Opportunities.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders became a Member of the INSME Association in March 2009.

For further information on the Establishment, please visit the website:
 http://www.sme.ae/english

Call for proposals

Issuer: European Commission

Theme: This call aims to establish a cross-European workshop programme for entrepreneurship professors in higher education by promoting winning ideas in the field of education for entrepreneurship and by improving the entrepreneurial mindsets of the European youth.

Participating countries: EU Member States; EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway; Accession countries, candidate countries and other countries participating to
the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme - CIP: Albania, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Israel, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

The maximum budget allocated for the operation is: approx. € 2.750,000.

Deadline: 20 April, 2009

Read more at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=2103

Infodev has recently launched an award for 15-20 successful entrepreneurs working on innovation and venture creation. Successful applicants will be awarded at the 3rd infoDev Global Forum on Business Incubation to be held in Brazil in October 2009. The award is open to candidates from more than 70 countries worldwide with an interest in leveraging business incubation to further innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries.

Deadline: April 13, 2009

Read more at:
 http://www.idisc.net/en/Article.38853.html

The 7th Joint CORNET Call for Transnational Collective Research Project proposals in any industrial field will be open until 30 April, 2009. See the list of Countries and Regions participating in CORNET. Please note that the guidelines have been revised to allow participation from partners from 2 countries.

For more information on CORNET and the 7th Joint Call please visit:
 http://www.cornet-era.net/

 Download the guidelines of cornet_7th_call (revised version).

With a view to creating linkages and joining forces to better promote the IP around the globe, the INSME is partnering with the China IPR SME Helpdesk, a project funded by the European Commission - DG Industry and Enterprise.

The China IPR SME Helpdesk provides for free practical, objective and factual information aimed to help European SMEs better understand how to develop IPR value and managing risks.

 Learn more about China IPR SME Helpdesk.

View the full list of INSME Partners:
 http://www.insme.org/

This report is the result of a ten-year work on the OECD Innovation Strategy that aims to identify the most effective policies to support innovation. One of the most important aspects highlighted by the report is that innovation is the result of the interaction between market and non-market forces.
According to the report, flexibility in the labour market, a strong demand from business, investments in science and technology, human capital and consistent governmental policies are essential ingredients to promote and increase the process of innovation across countries.

 Download the report here.

The European Commission launched the official inauguration of the "European Year of Creativity and Innovation (EYCI) 2009".
The EYCI 2009 highlights the importance of creativity and innovation as key factors not only for economic development but also for the social and personal one. During the whole year 2009, the European Union will organize debates and events aimed to increase and promote the innovative potential in Europe and encourage people to develop their better skills in many different fields.

Read more at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/valorisation/docs/bp-euprogrammes_en.pdf

Microfinance & Innovation is a paper developed in the framework of the EU INNO-Grips project which represents an early effort in bringing together the themes of microfinance and innovation. This mini study deals with the role played by microfinance for innovation and by innovation for microfinance, thus trying to demonstrate the mutual benefits resulting from their linkages, especially for SMEs.

 Download the Microfinance & Innovation - Mini Study 06.

 For more information on the INNO-Grips Project supported by the European Commission, please click here.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange (EIX), powered by ACHIEVE MORE Partnership, is a social network which provides companies, incubators, clusters, investors with innovative tools, best practices, leading edge incubation and seed financing services in order to enable and accelerate their growth in innovative sectors.

Please sing up to EIX for further information on services provided.

Find out more at:
 http://eandix.ning.com/

Since July 2008, the InfoDev Program financed the Global Working Group on Youth & Innovation focused on fostering youth entrepreneurship within the broader context of innovation and business incubation. In this framework, this bi-monthly newsletter has the objective to present the Youth and Incubation a Chance for a Better Future project's activities and the Working Group's actions in the sector of youth's entrepreneurship.

 Download the first issue of InfoDev's Global Working Group on Youth & Innovation Newsletter.

Learn more at:
 http://www.idisc.net/en/Article.38850.html

30-31 March 2009
Healthcare Biotech Forum
Organized by Europe Unlimited in association with APRE - Agency for the Promotion of European Research
Rome, Italy

31 March - 3 April 2009
NANOTEC2009.it: Competitiveness & Innovation for the Industrial Growth
Jointly organised by AIRI/Nanotec IT, the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and Veneto Nanotech
Rome, Italy

5-9 April 2009
18th International Conference on Management of Technology "Management of Green Technology"
Organised by the International Association of Management of Technology (IAMOT)
Orlando, United States

15-16 April 2009
1st 2009 IASP European Division Workshop
Organised by Technology Park of Andalusia (PAT)
Malaga, Spain

19-22 April 2009
23rd NBIA International Conference on Business Incubation "Bulding on Best Practices"
Organised by the National Business Incubator Association - NBIA
Kansas City, Missouri, United States

20-23 April 2009
DIT SMEs Forum holding the V INSME Annual Meeting Building a Knowledge based eco-system for SMEs: Finance, Innovation, Technology and Networking
Organised by the INSME Association with the Dubai Institute of Technology (DIT) - Dubai TechnoPark
Dubai, UAE

23-24 April 2009
2009 Global Social Venture Competition
Managed by Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley, California

24-25 April 2009
ICEIRD 2009 - 2nd International Conference for Entrepreneurship Innovation & Regional Development
Organised by City College - Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield and South East European Research Centre (SEERC)
Thessaloniki, Greece

27-28 April 2009
9th EBAN Annual Congress "Celebrating risk taking: the contribution of business angels and early stage investors and 4th EBAN Annual Award Ceremony
Organised by EBAN - European Business Angels Network
Madrid, Spain

28-30 April 2009
European Patent Forum and PATINNOVA 2009
Organised by European Patent Office- EPO
Prague, Czech Republic

6-14 May 2009
First European SME Week - Launch event
Organised by the European Commission
Brussels, Belgium

7-8 May 2009
"Research connection 2009" - Networking our way to a research future
Organised by the European Commission
Prague, Czech Republic

8-9 May 2009
Tex Tech II
Organised by I.N.C.D.T.P. the Research - Development National Institute for Textile and Leather
Bucharest, Romania

10-12 May 2009
3rd Conference on Micro Evidence on Innovation in Developing Economies - MEIDE
Organised by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), in collaboration with UNU-MERIT
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

12-13 May 2009
2009 ICIC DAEDEOK - International Conference on Innovation Cluster in Daedeok
Organised by DAEDEOK INNOPOLIS in collaboration with IASP - International Association of Science Parks
Daejeon, Korea

12-14 May 2009
6th Investing In Technology Forum
Organised by ASTF- Arab Science and Technology Foundation 
Cairo, Egypt

13-14 May 2009
Small Business Act for Europe: Entrepreneurship without Barriers
1st European SME Week Closing Conference and European Enterprise Awards
Prague, Czech Republic

3-5 June 2009
La Baule 2009 - 7th World Investment Conference "Investing in Global Cities: Opportunities in Adversity"
Organised by EUROPE+ Foundation
La Baule, France

8-10 June 2009
2009 Latin America - Caribbean Regional Microcredit Summit
Organized by RESULTS Educational Fund within the framework of Microcredit Summit Campaign
Cartagena, Colombia

21-24 June 2009
XX ISPIM Conference - The Future of Innovation
Organised by the International Society for Professional Innovation Managememnt (ISPIM) and supported by DANUBE - European Programmes for Training, Research and Technology and Ratio Strategy & Innovation Consulting
Vienna, Austria

21-24 June 2009
ICSB World Conference 2009
Organised by the International Council for Small Business - ICBS
Seoul, Korea Rep.of

22-23 June 2009
Seminar on Supporting SME and Enterprise Development through EU Programmes and Policies
Organised by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA)
Maastricht, Netherlands

23-24 June 2009
10th OECD Forum "The Crisis and Beyond - For a stronger, cleaner, fairer economy"
Organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD
Paris, France

7-8 July 2009
Seminario "Tecnolog�a y PYMES: Innovación y Sostenibilidad"
Organised by SELA-IBERPYME Programs
Caracas, Venezuela