Deadline: 15.11.2004

In June 2004 the INSME Association launched the first edition of the “INSME Award”, a prize that is 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.

Its aim is to motivate them to achieve a higher level of performance in the provision of services to SMEs and to promote the visibility and diffusion of success stories.

The main theme for the first edition of the INSME Award was summed up by the slogan “Innovation for success: Locally adopted, Globally replicable”. Common feature of all applications was that of presenting business models, initiatives, programmes or projects which, although implemented on a reduced scale, have the possibility to be scaled up and/or reapplied in other geographical contexts or different industrial sectors.

Click on the links below for more information on:
» Eligibility
» Award Categories
» Evaluation Criteria
» Evaluation Procedure
» Prizes
» Deadline for application
» FAQs
» Sponsorship

Read the text of the call:
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 Eligibility
 
Eligible to apply for the INSME Award are any public or private intermediary organisations or networks/associations (not individuals) which provides services aimed at fostering innovation and technology transfer to SMEs, irrespective of them being INSME Association/Advisory Group Members or non Members.
Each organisation or network/association may apply for itself, but can also propose, to the INSME Secretariat, another organisation or network/association which they deem worthy of this prize. Should this be the case, the signalling organisation is kindly invited to fill the "Nominate a Candidate" form and send it to INSME Secretariat.

 Award Categories
 
The Award is divided into the following two categories and is assigned every 2 years to the “best-in-class” within each of them:

• Category 1
  Intermediaries and their networks (legally constituted) at international, regional, national and sub-national level promoting and/or supplying innovation and TT services to SMEs.
   
• Category 2
  Initiatives, programmes and projects carried out by intermediaries or their networks in the field of innovation and TT to SMEs.

Each applicant can apply for both categories, although only one application can be rewarded.

 Evaluation Criteria

The main evaluation criteria to assign the Award is as follows.

Category 1 - Intermediaries and their networks at international, regional, national and sub-national level promoting and/or supplying innovation and TT services to SMEs.

The prize can be awarded to intermediaries and their networks as organisations, as a recognition of their remarkable efficacy in the socio-economic background they are operating in, based on the compliance with the following requirements which are listed according to their decreasing weight in the overall evaluation.

1. Extent of innovation of rendered services
   [It considers whether the services are innovative with respect to those already offered by other intermediaries in the same background];
    
2. Quantity and relevance of their projects and/or activities in order to support innovation and TT in the business sector (meaning the business enterprise sector, that includes all firms, organisations and institutions whose primary activity is the production of goods and services for the sale to the general public. This definition comprises, therefore, agriculture, manufacturing, construction and service sector)
   [It considers as a whole the projects and activities portfolio of the applicant organisation both in terms of number and extent to which they have contributed  to promote innovation and TT. As an example, due attention will be paid to the impacts of the mentioned projects and activities in terms of: improved performances of the supported SMEs and industries (increased market share of existing SMEs, improvement of product quality and added value to final customers, operative costs reduction etc), increased vitality of the involved economic sectors (setting up of new SMEs, increased presence on foreign markets, etc.) ];
    
3. Efficacy to integrate industry, governmental institutions and R&D organisations in the targeted entrepreneurial and institutional context
   [It assess the ability of the applicant organisation to mediate among academic, industrial and governmental spheres feeding knowledge flows which facilitate innovation processes in the concerned entrepreneurial context];
    
4. Quality of the organisation and structure and level of clients’ satisfaction
   [It considers whether the applicant organisation is managed accordingly with international quality management standards (ISO 9000 standards) and the level of the applicant organisation’s clients satisfaction properly documented.];
    
5. Span of the services offered or activities undertaken 
   [It takes into consideration the width of services offered in terms typology (information, promotion, technology services, R&D, studies, networking and commercial, client skill development, financial support, policy making, etc.), function (activation of linkages, technical support, transfer of knowledge) and content (organisation, technology and market)];
    
6. Level of internationalisation
   [It considers as a whole whether the applicant organisation takes part in networks comprising similar entities and/or renders its services to foreign clients and to what extent and, finally, if it has branches abroad];
    
7. Number of SMEs supported yearly
   [It refers to the number of SMEs that receive the services of the applicant organisation over a year. It must be properly documented];
    
8. Strategic relevance of industrial sectors covered and strategic position in terms of level of sectoral and/or technological specialisation
   [It considers whether the applicant organisation addresses its services to economic sectors strategically relevant in the socio-economic background and what its sectoral/technological focus is (e.g. Low Tech, High Tech, etc..)];
    
9. Participation in regional, national and international networks
   [It takes into consideration if the applicant organisation is member of existing networks];
    
10. Geographical area covered by the network/s and number of members
    [It considers the geographical extent of the network/s the applicant organisation is a member of and how many members such it/they consists/consist of].

Category 2
Initiatives, programmes and projects carried out by intermediaries or their networks in support of SMEs, in the field of innovation and TT, undertaken over the last 3 years.

The prize can be awarded to those initiatives, programmes and projects carried out by intermediaries or their networks which, even if not terminated on the date of submission of the application, can prove to have produced one or more of the following results:

1. innovative and technological products, processes and applications
   [It takes into consideration those initiatives, programmes and projects undertaken by the applicant organisation which helped client SMEs in developing new products, processes or applications];
    
2. innovative organisation and/or market approach
   [It considers whether initiatives, programmes and projects undertaken by the applicant organisation helped client SMEs in improving their organisation and/or market approach];
    
3. innovative services to SMEs
   [It considers whether the mentioned activities led to the setting up of previously inexistent services for SMEs or to the improvement of existing ones];
    
4. new common units, TT services and methodologies which ensure economies of scale and mutual benefits (only for the networks)
   [It considers those activities resulting in the setting up of common services (information, training, technical assistance, etc.) among members of a network of intermediaries so as to produce economies of scale and other mutual benefits (i.e. enhanced flow of knowledge, information, etc)];
    
5. innovative networks in terms of geographical areas or industrial sectors covered, type of partnership, etc.
   [It considers whether the applicant organisation has undertaken initiatives, projects or programmes leading to the creation of networks benefiting geographical areas previously not covered by other networks, or to the involvement of marginalised industrial sectors, etc].

 Evaluation Procedure

Applications are evaluated in a two-phase process.

First the INSME Secretariat, supported by experts, screens all applications so as to decide those who are admissible for evaluation (those which do not meet formal and content requirements are rejected). Then it proceeds with technical evaluation.
This consists first of the evaluation of individual applications, then of the selection of a restricted number of them so as to make up a short-list including those which better met the evaluation requirements.

Secondly, short-listed applications are submitted to the Jury for final evaluation and selection of the winners. The Jury is composed of 8 highly qualified experts in the field of innovation and technology transfer representing both the public and private sector and different geographical areas worldwide. Their organisations of origin is not allowed to take part in the competition so as to avoid any conflict of interest. Following a proposal from the INSME Secretariat, the Jury also decides on the evaluation criteria to be set for each Award edition.

 Prizes
 
The prize for each category consists of a medal. The Jury might however decide to assign more than one prize per category in case more than one application is deemed deserving recognition within each of them.
Apart from the prizes, winners also gain additional benefits.
In case they are not INSME Members, they are also rewarded with free 12 month INSME membership starting from the month after the assignment of the Award. Any winner, no matter if he is an INSME or non INSME Member, is also offered free participation in one of the initiatives being planned for the upcoming year, such as international training programmes.
Besides, both category's winners is entitled to use the INSME Award logo on their documents and website for two years.
Finally, any winner benefits from the high visibility the INSME Association will give them. Not only are the awardees invited to introduce their case to the Association Members at the prize-giving event planned for the 13th of April 2005 in Barcelona, Spain (on the occasion of the next INSME Annual Meeting), but will also be presented on the INSME web portal, in the Association monthly newsletter and on means of information (web sites, bulletins, newsletter, etc.) made available by the numerous organisations the Association has relations with.

 Deadline for application
 
The Award is given biannually. For the first edition the deadline for submitting applications is November 15, 2004.

The INSME Secretariat received 7 applications falling into Category 1 of the Award (Intermediaries and their networks) and 8 falling into Category 2 (Initiatives, programmes and projects).

 Further information

Contact:
Ms. Francesca Giannotti
phone: +39.06.80972519
fax: +39.06.80972443
E-mail: giannotti@ipi.it