"Competitiveness, Culture and Cross-Border Co-operation: 
Assisting SMEs to Grow, Innovate and
Reach International Markets"

23^rd - 26^th May, 2011
Helsinki, Finland

Read the full draft Conference Agenda of the 7th INSME Annual Meeting 2011 which includes six dedicated thematic panels and nine institutional roundtables on specific innovation and SMEs related topics. Participation of 56 speakers from 18 Countries worldwide is already confirmed. A hall for stands exhibition and networking will also be available.

Registration is mandatory to confirm any participant.

 Please complete the electronic online registration at the Conference website.

No registration fee is foreseen for INSME and EPROCA Members.

For participation and further details, please visit the website at:
 www.annualmeeting2011.insme.org

or contact the INSME Secretariat at:
 insme2011@insme.it

The Science and Technology for Development Network (STDev) is an initiative of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) developed and managed by the Division for Technology and Logistics, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as a gateway to provide information on science and technology for development, with information on best practices, partnering, networking and financing opportunities.

 To read more about STDev, please, click here.

The ATDF Matchmaking Platform is a project implemented by the African Technology Development Forum (ADTF), in cooperation with the UNCTAD Empretec program and supported also by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO � INSME Members).

This initiative aims to promote, facilitate and study e-mentoring for development in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, it enables online matching of promising young African entrepreneurs with experienced mentors.

 Read more about the ATDF Platform at:
 http://match.atdforum.org/

The ACCESSRU Project is a special support action co-funded by the FP7 Capacities Specific Programme of the European Commission aimed to facilitate the access of the European Organisations to Russian research programmes and to implement several pilot cases and success stories. Appropriate dissemination methodology of the access opportunities across Europe and Russia will ensure maximum impact and open larger scope of potential cooperation.

INNOVA Europe is among the project partners.

Read more about the ACCESSRU Project at:
 http://www.access4.eu/russia/index.php

China IPR SME Helpdesk (INSME Partner) is pleased to announce the extension of the project for an additional three years (from 2011 to 2013). The initiative, funded by the European Union and implemented by DEVELOPMENT Solutions and the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, will continue to provide free advice and services to European SMEs which are planning on dealing with China or which have experienced Intellectual Property Rights infringement in China through training and workshops, online resources and a dedicated enquiry service.

 Find out more about China IPR SME Helpdesk.

The Corporation for the Development of Micro-Enterprises (PROPA�S) is a mixed private law company based in Colombia aimed to promote the development of smaller sized companies as key actors of the local development. Its action is focused on promoting policies, generate information and develop programs related to the smaller companies sector.

The final aim of PROPA�S is to help Colombian SMEs become more competitive and innovative so that they can create more job opportunities which in return will foster the Colombian economy and improve the standard of living of the Colombian citizens.

 Read more about PROPA�S.

The INSME Association is one of the partners of the Saudi SME Economic Forum 2011, an international event, co-organised by Naseba and the Asharqia Chamber under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Fahad Al Suad, Governor of Eastern Province that will take place on the 29th-30th March 2011 in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This Forum will be dedicated to highlight small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

 For further details, please, download the Brochure and/or click here.

 Call for Proposals

Objective: The strategic objective of the MANUNET call for proposals is to foster the competitiveness of Europe�s Manufacturing Industry by supporting the funding of manufacturing research projects performed by enterprises (preferably SMEs) and their strategic partnerships and high risk R&D projects related to manufacturing industry. The funding objectives of the call are transnational application oriented and high risk R&D projects related to Manufacturing.

Eligibility criteria: consortia consisting of at least 2 independent SMEs belonging to 2 different participating regions from different European Countries can apply for the MANUNET funding.

Participating countries/regions:
Asturias (Spain); Basque Country (Spain); Catalonia (Spain); Estonia; Franche-Comt� (France); Germany; Israel; Lower Austria (Austria); Luxembourg; Navarra (Spain); Northern Ireland (United Kingdom); Piedmont (Italy); Romania; Slovakia; Switzerland; Turkey; Tuscany (Italy); Wallonia (Belgium); Western Greece (Greece).

Deadline for full proposals submission: 14^th July 2011

Stay tuned with MANUNET website for updates:
  http://www.manunet.net/index

Call for Nominations

The Millennium Technology Prize, awarded by the Millennium Prize Foundation, a Finnish independent fund, represents the Finland's tribute to life-enhancing technological innovations.
The Millennium Technology Prize is awarded for a specific groundbreaking innovation in the field of technology which promotes people�s quality of life and sustainable development.

Eligibility criteria: It can be awarded to a research and development team or to a single individual from all over the World. It can also be shared between two or three individuals who are shown to have made a critical contribution of essentially equal merit to the success of the innovation 

The award amounts to more than 1 MEur.

Deadline: 31 July 2011

 Download the Nomination form.

Read more about the Millenium Tecnology Prize at:
 http://www.millenniumprize.fi/

Call for Papers

The Politecnico of Milan (Italy) has recently launched a Call for Papers under the European FP7 program for the Vico (Financing entrepreneurial ventures in Europe) Final Conference on �Entrepreneurial finance: the real impact� to be held in Stresa, Italy, from 29 June to 1 July 2011.
The conference will aim to collect and discuss theoretical and empirical studies on the relationship between the type of finance received by entrepreneurial ventures from different types of investors.

Furthermore, an important focus will be dedicated to the role played by governments to solve inefficiency in the financing of entrepreneurial ventures, and their interaction with private finance.

The conference is addressed to domestic and international independent venture capital (VC) investors, corporate and bank controlled VC investors, Governmental VC investors, university seed funds, business angels, banks, etc.

Deadline: 1^st April 2011.

 Read more about the Call of papers here.

Call for Expression of Interest

The EBTC (European Business and Technology Centre) has recently launched a Call for Expression of Interest for the participation in the �EBTC Biotechnology Business & Research Delegation to India�, a mission co-organised by Innovhub (INSME Member), in collaboration with Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum and ACC1O- Government of Catalonia.

The mission, foreseen from 2^nd to 6^th May, 2011 in Bangalore (India), will be open to all EU companies, research organizations, individual researchers, cluster representatives and Universities operating in the area of red, white, green and bioinformatics. The purpose of the delegation is to understand the Indian biotech market and to explore business opportunities in the field of biotechnologies associated with climate change and sustainable development and to discover future trends in the Indian biotech sector.

Deadline for submission: 18^th March 2011

Participation fee: � 200

EU companies and researchers interested in joining the mission are invited to submit their �Expression of Interest form� and send it to biotech@ebtc.eu or fax to +91-(0)11-45172209.

 Download the Invitation and the Press Release.

 Read more about the EBTC project.

The African Technology Development Forum (ATDF) is a volunteer organisation established in 2002 which aims to provide development assistance to local economy in Africa by facilitating the formation of partnerships and linkages between academic/research centres and industry.

For this purpose ATDF provides an online resources service, a quarterly publication ATDF JournaL and a dedicated section for Entrepreneurship Assistance for Africans � recently enriched with the E-mentoring Matchmaking Platform.

For further in-deep details about this new innovative tool, please, read the article in the section �News of the INSME Members� of this newsletter.

INSME participates in ATDF as Partner.

 Find out more about ATDF at:
http://www.atdforum.org/

This publication, issued by UNCTAD � United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (INSME Member), provides policymakers and the international investment community with up-to-date information about the latest developments and salient features in foreign investment policies at the national and international level.

The monitor covers measures taken in the period from 1 October 2010 until 15 January 2011.

  Download the Investment Policy Monitor.

Following the adoption of the Innovation Union initiative, the European Commission has just published the Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS), which has replaced the former European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) -a well established and recognized tool for assessing innovation performance in EU Member States.

The IUS 2010 aims to help monitor the implementation of the Europe 2020 Innovation Union flagship by providing a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of the EU27 Member States as well as Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their research and innovation systems.

Innovation leaders, innovation followers, modest innovators and moderate innovators can be identified among the European countries on the basis of 25 indicators.

 Download the IUS 2010.

This portal, managed by European Commission- DG Enterprise & Industry and financed under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), gathers together all the information provided by the EU on and for SMEs, ranging from practical advice to policy issues, from local contact points to networking links.

 Find out more at:
http://ec.europa.eu/small-business/index_en.htm

EXCELLENCE Cluster Executive Magazine is published by EPROCA- the European ProClusters Association (INSME Member) one-two times annually in a digital format. The magazine, written exclusively in English and delivered to more than 120 countries across the world, conveys the challenges and opportunities of enterprises and business executives in the ever-changing world.

 Download here the EXCELLENCE 1/2011 cluster executive magazine, where you will find a long section dedicated to the next 7^th INSME Annual Meeting.

 For further information, please, click here.

1^st-5^th March 2011
13^th Future Match 2011
Organized by Enterprise Europe Network
Hannover, Germany

2^nd March 2011
ENoLL EUROCITIES "Joint Matchmaking Event on Open Innovation for Internet-enabled Services in Smart Cities"
Organized by the European Network of Living Labs and EUROCITIES network
Brussels, Belgium 

2^nd- 4^th March 2011
FEI 2011 - The Front End of Innovation Europe
Organized by the Institute for International Research-IIR USA
Berlin, Germany

2^nd- 4^th March 2011
ITPB 2011- 7^th International Conference on Polymer and Textile Biotechnology
Organized by Stazione Sperimentale per la Seta, InoTEX and AICTC - Italian Association of Textile Chemists and Colourists
Milan, Italy

3^rd-4^th March 2011
China Early Stage Investor Forum 2011 & Awards incorporating the 2^nd Asian Business Angel Forum
Organized by Angel Vest, Angels Shanghai and Asian Business Angels Forum
Shanghai, China

7^th- 9^th March 2011
Accel Roundtables on Entrepreneurship Education Middle East / North Africa (REE MENA) 2011 on �Entrepreneurship Oasis: Building the Regional Ecosystem�
Hosted by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) and Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT)
Abu Dhabi, UAE

7^th- 8^th March 2011
The 12^th MedTech Investing Europe Conference
Produced in collaboration with Imperial College London and �cole Polytechnique F�d�rale de Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland

8^th March 2011
Innovating Women: Illuminating Achievement and Success
Organised by the Small Enterprise Research Unit (SERU) Newcastle University Business School
Newcastle, United Kingdom

9^th March 2011
Creative Co-operatives North West: starting a co-operative in the creative industries
Organized by Co-operatives UK/Co-operatives North West
Salford, United Kingdom

10^th March 2011
Management of Intellectual Property Rights
Organized by The Training Centre (FTU) of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Brussels, Belgium

10^th- 11^th March 2011
7^th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance: "From Recession to Recovery�
Hosted by the Organization for Economic, Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Palais Auersperg, Vienna, Austria

16^th March 2011
Power of the Purse: Can European Governments use their Procurement Powers to stimulate Innovation?
Organized by the European Commission
Brussels, Belgium

16^th- 17^th March 2011
EUREKA Days 2011
Organized by Korea Institute of Advancement of Technology-KIATA and supported by EUREKA
Seoul, South-Korea

16^th- 17^th March 2011
Breakthrough Innovation 2011
Hosted by Connecting Group
Barcelona, Spain

20^th- 22^nd March 2011
Federal Economic Development Forum "Building a Competitive Future Through Innovative Partnerships"
Organized by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC)
Washington, United States

21^st March 2011
Lille Innovation Conference (LINC)
Organized by JINNOVE
Lille, France

22^nd - 23^rd March 2011
10^th European Forum on Eco-Innovation "Towards a Resource Efficient Economy - From Policy to Action"
Organized by ETAP-Environmental Technologies Action Plan
Birmingham, United Kingdom

25^th March 2011
Clusters as Drivers of Competitiveness: Strategies and Policy Issues
Organized by the University of Fribourg
Fribourg, Switzerland

28^th- 31^st March 2011
GEC 2011 - Global Entrepreneurship Congress
Co-hosted by the Kauffman Foundation and the Entrepreneurship Foundation for Graduates in Shanghai
Shanghai, China

29^th March 2011
PERIA Conference 2011 "Regional innovation agencies in Europe:towards a new era!"
Organized by CARINNA, the Champagne-Ardenne Research and Innovation Agency
Reims, France

29^th- 31^st March 2011
European Innovation Conference 2011
Co-organized by REG X and the Innovation Roundtable
Billund, Denmark

29^th- 30^th March 2011
15^th Innovact: The European Forum for Innovative Start-Ups
Organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Reims and Epernay
Reims, France

30^th- 31^st March 2011
TCI Conference "Inspiring Clusters in the Beginning of the New Decade"
Organized by TCI and the Baltic Innovation Agency - BIA
Tallinn, Estonia

4^th- 6^th April 2011
2011 ACA Summit "Angel Investing - From Seed to Harvest"
Organized by Angel Capital Association (ACA)
Boston, MA, United States

5^th- 7^th April 2011
4^th PRO INNO Europe� Annual Partnering Event �Innovating knowledge transfer�
Hosted by European Patent Office (EPO) and organized in collaboration with the European Commission�s DG Enterprise and Industry
Munich, Germany 

6^th- 9^th April 2011
12^th Mediterranean Research Meeting
Productivity and Innovation in the MENA Region - Mapping Euro-Med Knowledge and Technology Transfer
Florence, Italy

7^th- 8^th April 2011
ImMediaTe Cross-Media Summit "Digital creativity for cross-media content production and services"
Organized by The ImMediaTe Consortium
Rome, Italy

14^th- 15^th April 2011
ITTBC-International Technology Transfer Beijing Conference 2011 (AUTM-Asia 2011)
Organized by the Institute for International Intellectual Property
Beijing, China

18^th April 2011
4^th International Business Partnership Matchmaking Forum �Russia-Europe: Cooperation without Frontiers"
Organized by MEA-Moscow Entrepreneurs Association
Moscow, Russia

24^th- 26^th April 2011
14^th Private Sector Meeting for the Promotion of Trade and Joint Venture Investment among Islamic Countries "SMEs in Developing Economies of OIC Countries and the Role of Private Sector�
Organized by the General Secretariat of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI)
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates