SME Innovation: boosting development and growth in times of change


10-13 May, 2010
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Venue: Hotel Sofitel, Copacabana

NEW: online registration form available:

 for INSME Members
 for non-INSME Members

No participation fee is foreseen for INSME Members, participants from Latin American, Caribbean and Central American Countries from both public and private sector and International Governmental Organisations.

For any other participant, the fee is:
- 250 Euro for delegates coming from OECD countries
- 150 Euro for delegates coming from non OECD countries

A discount of 50% will be given to the second registered delegate from the same organisation. 

To stay updated with the VI INSME Annual Meeting, visit the dedicate website now available at:
www.annualmeeting2010.insme.org

or contact the INSME Secretariat at:
 insmerio2010@insme.it

The INSME Association has established a Working Group on SME financing, chaired by the INSME President, Mr. Paolo Anselmo, which aims at maximising the networking and the collaboration among INSME members, to work together, exchange ideas and possibly set up joint initiatives on specific topics. In this framework, INSME has elaborated a questionnaire to investigate the capability to build up programmes and initiatives in the field of the Investment Readiness for the entrepreneurs and on the Ready to Invest for the investors.

 Take a few minutes to fill in the questionnaire and send your feedback to the INSME Secretariat (by e-mail or fax). INSME non-Members are also invited to join the questionnaire and the Working Group.

PATENTSCOPE is a prime platform elaborated by WIPO for technology transfer and innovation promotion that provides access to online free information on patents, filed and granted around the world, about new technologies which are often disclosed for the first time as international patent applications.

To see the new search facility please click on the following link:
 http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/en/

To find out more about PATENTSCOPE please visit the website at:
 http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/dbsearch/

The presentations made during the WIPO-Italy International Convention on Intellectual Property and Competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) are currently available at the following link:
 http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=19887

The Convention, organised by the SME Division of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Italian Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro (CNEL), took place on 10th-11th December 2009 in Rome, Italy. Over 200 participants from 84 Countries attended.

 To learn more, please visit the WIPO website.

The public consultation document, issued by the European Commission, aims to develop the EU 2020 strategy, the new European common agenda focusing on 3 thematic objectives: creating value through knowledge; empowering people in inclusive societies; creating a competitive, connected and greener economy.

 To submit your contribution, please, click here.
Please note that the deadline for responses is 15 January 2010.

 To read more, please, download the Commission Working Document Consultation on the future EU 2020 Strategy

or visit the dedicated website at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/

The Latin American Economic System (SELA), is a regional intergovernmental organization that groups 26 Latin American and Caribbean countries. It aims to provide the Latin American and Caribbean region with a system of consultation and coordination for the adoption of common positions and strategies on economic issues in international bodies and forums and before third countries and groups of countries and to foster cooperation and integration among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

SELA is an INSME Honorary Member since 2006.

Read more about SELA at:
http://www.sela.org

Both CORNET and EraSME have launched calls for proposals aimed to strengthen the innovation capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. Both initiatives, the 9^th Joint CORNET Call and the 7^th EraSME call, will be open until 31^st March, 2010 and will help SMEs to acquire technological know-how, to increase their research efforts, to extend their networks and bridging the gap between research and innovation.

Beneficiaries of the 9^th CORNET call are: SME Associations, professional federations, clusters and trade organisations from at least 2 CORNET countries.
Beneficiaries of the 7^th EraSME call are: Small or larger consortia of individual SMEs and research and technology organisations (RTOs) from at least 2 EraSME countries or regions.

 Download the joint CORNET / EraSME general call leaflet.

Partnering events to promote the participation in the 9^th CORNET call as well as in the forthcoming 7th ERASME call (collaborative research) will be held on 14th January 2010 in Gy�r, Hungary and 20th January 2010 in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

For more information on CORNET and the 9th Joint Call please visit:
 http://www.cornet-era.net/

For EraSME visit:
 http://www.era-sme.net/public/

The 5th Transnational ETB Call for Proposals on Funding of Industrial R&D Projects in Biotechnology aims to enhance the competitive capacity of Europe's biotechnology industry by supporting the research intensive SMEs and their strategic partnerships. 

Deadline for submitting the project proposals: February 1^st 2010.

Overall budget: about € 30.000.000,00

All the necessary information to the submission on the 5th call helpdesk page.

 To learn more, please, visit the EUROTRANS-BIO web site.

Call for Proposals

The Call for Proposals EAST-INVEST Eastern Partnership / SME Facility (reference: EuropeAid/129289/C/ACT/ESU) aims to contribute to the economic development of the Eastern Neighbourhood region and to the improvement of its business environment within the context of developing networking between EU and Eastern Neighbourhood Region public and private organisations.
EAST-INVEST is a new regional investment and trade facilitation project covering the period from 2010 to 2013, and the countries of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

Deadline for submission of applications: 4th March 2010.
Overall indicative budget: € 7.000.000,00

 For furhter details, please, consult the website of EuropeAid

Many SMEs are unaware that China allows copyright holders to register their copyright with the Copyright Bureau. As opposed to trademarks and patents, registration of one's copyright is not compulsory in order to obtain protection, but will be of assistance in proving the ownership of the copyright in the case of infringement.

 Read more.

I3SME is a European project financed by the European Regional Development Fund and coordinated by the Italian Province of Bologna with the aim of stimulating the performances of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) based in the EU countries, in particular in the new Member States, in the field of technology research and competitiveness, by helping them to bridge innovation and knowledge gap. Project partners will support the diffusion of information on the new instruments towards the most hidden SMEs (mainly of the secondary sector) and on the possible policies to be applied supporting the instruments.

Read more at:
 http://www.i3sme.eu/

The 2009 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard was released in November 2009 by the Joint Research Centre's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC -IPTS).

It contains information, figures and other economic and financial data, on the top 1,000 EU companies and the top 1,000 non-EU companies ranked by their investments in research and development (R&D).

 To learn more, please, download the scoreboard.

The Industrial Development Report 2009 - Breaking In and Moving Up: New Industrial Challenges for the Bottom Billion and the Middle-Income Countries, issued by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), deeply analyses a long-term time-series data as well as case study evidences with the aim to design or implement policies towards industrialization with the basic tools to think about the problems that constrain industrial development.

 Download the Industrial Development Report 2009.

The Global Competitiveness Index 2009-2010 is the annual publication issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF). This year, the Report features a total of 133 economies and contains a detailed profile for each of them as well as an extensive section of data tables with global rankings covering over 100 indicators, from good governance and macroeconomic stability to the efficiency of factor markets, technological adoption, and innovation potential, among others.

 Download the GCI 2009-2010.

Industrial Research and Innovation, the website of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), presents economic and financial analyses aimed to improve the understanding of corporate R&D and innovation for the competitiveness and economic growth of the EU and to identify medium and long-term policy implications.

To learn more, please, visit the dedicated website at:
 http://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

AL-INVEST IV INFORMA is the monthly newsletter conceived within the framework of AL - INVEST IV programme. It reviews the events held under the programme and news related to entrepreneurship in Latin America, development cooperation and the internationalization of SMEs.

Please note that it is also available both in Spanish and in Portuguese.

 To find out more about AL-INVEST IV INFORMA, please, click here.

13-14 January 2010
Workshop "Territorial marketing: driving foreign investments toward local economic development"
Organised by the ANIMA Investment Network, within the framework of Invest in Med Programme
Amman, Jordan

14 January 2010
CORNET Project Partnering Event
Organised by the National Office for Research and Technology (HU)
Gy�r, Hungary

19 January 2010
ESINET/ESA Best Startup 2009 Competition
Hosted by ESA - European Space Agency
Noordwijk, The Netherlands

20 January 2010
CORNET/EraSME Partnering Event "Creating proposals for transnational research projects - establishing partnerships"
Organised by SenterNovem, German Federation of Industrial Research Associations - AiF, Institute for the promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders - IWT and Service Public de Wallonie - SPW
Maastricht, The Netherlands

20 January 2010
Global Links Conference
Organised by VINNOVA and Compera ERA NET
Stockholm, Sweden

26-28 January 2010
Euro-Mediterranean Innovation Marketplace
Organised by the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, in collaboration with the European Commission
Cairo, Egypt

27-29 January 2010
6th PROTON EUROPE Annual Conference
Organised by the Athena Research Center and the National Hellenic Research Foundation
Athens, Greece

2-4 February 2010
SME Expo & Conference
Organised by INTEX Dubai and Al Fajer Information & Services
Dubai, UAE

11 February 2010
Green Technologies Investment Forum
Organised by the Italian Business Angels Network - IBAN and the Swedish Business Region Goteborg AB
Milan, Italy

11-12 February 2010
KIS Partnering Forum 2010
Organised by the Knowledge Intensive Services - Innovation Platform
Rome, Italy

16-17 February 2010
Dubai International Conference on Innovative Sources to Finance Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
Dubai, UAE

21-23 February 2010
EFMD 2010 Entrepreneurship Conference Entrepreneurs as Agents of Creativity in Times of Crisis
Organised by the European Foundation for Management Development - EFMD
Paris, France

24-25 February 2010
International Conference on the Foundation of the World Union for SMEs
Hosted by C.E.S.A. Foundation
San Marino

3-4 March 2010
Corporate R&D - An engine for growth, a challenge for European policy
Organised by JRC's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) and the Spanish Centre for Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI)
Seville, Spain

8-11 March 2010
19th International Conference on Management of Technology
Organized by IAMOT - International Association for Managment of Technology
Cairo, Egypt

10-12 March 2010
8th Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship Research - IECER
Organised by Prof. Dr. Michael Dowling - University of Regensburg and by Prof. Dr. J�rgen Schmude - University of Munich
Regensburg, Germany

11-12 March 2010
IASP European Division Workshop "Science and Technology Parks in a mature economy"
Organised by Tecmaia
Moreia da Maia, Portugal

15-17 March 2010
Week of Innovative Regions in Europe - WIRE 2010
Organised by the Spanish Presidency, the Ministry of Science and Innovation in collaboration with the European Commission
Granada, Spain

16-18 March 2010
National Forum of Incubators and Technology Parks
Sponsored by the Paulista Incubator Network (Rede Paulista de Incubadoras- RPI)
Sao Paulo, Brazil

18 March 2010
ISBA 2010 - Annual Conference
Organised by ISBA
London, United Kingdom

30-31 March 2010
IASP European Division Workshop "Better cooperation among Science Parks - higher value for companies"
Organised by the TEHNOPOL- Tallinn Technology Park
Tallinn, Estonia