Issue N° 112 - July/August 2013
The non-members subscribers will receive this newsletter at least two weeks after its official launch

In this Issue:

INSMEnews!

Contact                 the editorial staff

Keep up to date on innovation matters worldwide with the INSME Association!

Dear INSMEnews Readers,

Summer, sun and time for a break!
Isn’t it a good moment to have some food for mind?

After a successful first half of the year and an inspiring 9th INSME Annual Meeting discussing on the Governance of Innovation, it is now the moment to take a deep breath, rest and “digest” this period full of activities, events and successes!

To continue on our path to creativity, let me share this picture with you:

Intro July-August image
*courtesy of: http://forum.xcitefun.net/mind-blowing-creativity-with-food-t85438.html


...Your associations? :)

“True creativity often starts where language ends”
                                               
(Arthur Koestler)

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Summer break!
INSMEnews will be back in September!

..and now as usual enjoy your reading!


Ms. Christin Pfeiffer

INSME Secretary general


The INSME Team welcomes your comments and inputs for further improvement of this service.

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Supporting organisations:

Updates on the life of the INSME Network

Interview with Mr. Shigeiro Shinozaki (Asian Development Bank)

S. Shinozaki The INSME Secretariat met Mr. Shigeiro Shinozaki, Financial Sector Specialist - Office of Regional Economic Integration from the Asian Development Bank (INSME Member) on the occasion of the 9th INSME Annual Meeting, where he held an interesting round table on "Innovative Financing Modalities for High-end SMEs amid Global Financial Uncertainty".

In this interview Mr. Shinozaki gives inspirational insights on what innovation is and how different economic players could take the most from being innovative even thanks to networks that could work as catalysts to properly connect new ideas and approaches generated by the private sector with the public sector.

Read more about the interview here

Future outlook: the 10th INSME Annual Meeting, Abu Dhabi, UAE – Spring 2014

Khalifa Fund logo INSME is proud to announce its upcoming 10th anniversary: the 10th INSME Annual Meeting will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, co–organized by Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, holding the INSME Vice-presidency.

The main topic of the "Invest in Innovation”, as well as the location presented during the 9th INSME General Assembly in Izmir, Turkey, has already received positive feedback from the INSME Board and the INSME General Assembly. Abu Dhabi is well known all around the world for its active business society and for its fast–growing economy, further reason to consider it as a perfect host for the 10th Anniversary of the INSME Association.

Enjoy the promotional video by Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development at the INSME portal homepage and stay tuned to discover all relevant details of the 10th INSME Annual Meeting!

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News and contributions from the INSME Members

EBAN Winter University

EBAN logoThe European Trade Association for Business Angels, seed funds, and other early stage market players – EBAN (INSME Member) organizes its Winter University, taking place on the 2nd and on the 3rd of October 2013 in Moscow – Russia, hosted by the National Business Angels Association - NBAA.

The Winter University is the right setting to provide new tools and expertise to existing players and to support the emerging actors avoiding common errors on the path for a sustainable and wealth creating activity.

This year, the Winter University will be anticipated by an Early Stage Investment Bootcamp targeted to all players of the industry, from angel investors to entrepreneurs. The Bootcamp will provide all its participants, independently of their background, with an integrated overview of early stage investing and a solid understanding of the specificity of the different areas being approached: investing, raising investment, managing angel networks and managing early stage funds.

Find out more about this initiative at the following link.

The African Union’s Agenda 2063: the AfDB and its Partners establish a platform to build Africa’s future development 

AfDB logoRepresentatives of the African Development Bank Group - AfDB (INSME Member), the African Union Commission - AUC, the Economic Commission for Africa and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development - NEPAD - Secretariat gathered in Tunis on the 25th and 26th of June 2013 to discuss the African Union’s ‘Agenda 2063’, an initiative which aims at deliberating on Africa's development in the next 50 years.

The Development of the “Agenda 2063” will include consultations with stakeholders, namely Governments, the private sector, women, youth, various think tanks and civil society groups throughout Africa. The initiative is an attempt to ensure that Africa's future is driven by policies and programs created mainly by African institutions.

The “Agenda 2063” will be presented, discussed and adopted at the African Union Heads of State and Governments Summit in June 2014.

Learn more about the initiative here.
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INSME's Picks in the News

Agreement on “HORIZON 2020”: the EU’s research and innovation programme for the years 2014 to 2020.

Horizon2020The Committee of Permanent Representatives endorsed on the 17th of July the agreement reached last June between the Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament representatives on the "Horizon 2020" programme for research and innovation for the years 2014 to 2020. The agreement paves the way for the formal adoption of the "Horizon 2020" legislative package by the European Parliament and the Council through a vote in the coming months.

Horizon 2020, which has a budget of around 70 billion Euro, will underpin the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs, as well as the goal of strengthening the scientific and technological bases by contributing to achieving a European Research Area in which researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate freely.

Among the main features of the Horizon 2020 programme:

- Simplification: to reduce  administrative costs for participants and decrease financial errors;

- European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT): to continue to reinforce the innovation capacity of the EU and its member states, by integrating the "knowledge triangle" of higher education, research and innovation;

- Science with and for society: those regions with weaker structural research conditions will benefit from targeted measures under Horizon 2020. Teaming of institutions and twinning of research staff as well as exchange of best practices will be at the heart of widening excellence and participation;

- Partnerships for research and innovation: to support the development and implementation of public-private and public-public partnerships;

- Open access to results: to increase the circulation and exploitation of knowledge, open access to scientific publications will be ensured

Learn more about the agreement here

The European Commission launches the new Export Helpdesk

Export HelpdeskThe European Commission recently launched the new format of the Export Helpdesk. This free online service explains to businesses in developing countries how to export to the EU. In just a few clicks businesses can find the EU requirements, taxes, tariffs, preferential arrangements, rules of origin and statistics that apply to their products.

The new facility is easier to use and includes additional information. Available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, the Export Helpdesk aims at supporting those countries most in need. Besides keeping the website regularly updated, the Export helpdesk team also organizes capacity-building trainings in the field.

Learn more about the new Export Helpdesk at the following link.
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INSME's Picks in the Web

Three Innovation Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

Opportunity/FailureThis article identifies the three most common mistakes, according to its author, that can block the road towards successful innovations. These are: confusing creativity with innovation, fairing failures and treating innovation like a quick-fix add-on.

Read the article at this page.

Look for the Solution Inside the Problem

Lateral Thinking PuzzleLateral thinking is an important tool to stimulate innovations in every field of life and it can even transform the lack of material resources in a help for creativity.

This article aims at showing that dealing with a limited set of resources contained in a problem forces to be more creative - and very often the result is a solution that is elegant, inexpensive and effective.

Read the article here.

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About IPR...in China

IPR CHINA SME Help Desk: Protecting your IP at Trade Fairs in China: Know Before You Go

China IPR SME Helpdesk In this article, the China IPR SME Helpdesk (INSME Partner) provides useful suggestions for companies and organisations that will take part in a trade fair in China.

The article is split in three parts: Before the trade fair: fail to prepare, prepare to fail, At the trade fair: be pro-active not reactive, After the trade fair: act on the information you have gathered.

Read the article

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Tenders, Calls & Consultations

Orange African Social Venture Prize

Orange Prize 2013The Orange African Social Venture Prize promotes social innovations in support of development that use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

This call for projects, that has received more than 1.000 applications over the past two years, will reward once again three entrepreneurs or start-ups, offering products or services making innovative use of ICT to meet the needs of people in the African continent in the following fields: healthcare, agriculture, education, energy, industry and trade.

Internet users will be able to vote online for their favourite project using the Orange portal in Africa www.StarAfrica.com The project voted “online favourite” will be submitted directly to the jury along with the other finalists’ projects preselected by the experts and will therefore have the maximum possible chance of being among the three winners of the 2013 Awards.

In addition to prize money ranging from 10.000 to 25.000 Euro, the three winners will also receive support from professional entrepreneurs and ICT experts for a period of six months. Furthermore, the project submitted by the winner of the first prize will be patented by Orange in the country where it is deployed.

Any entrepreneur aged 21 or over, or company that has existed for less than three years at the time of the competition, regardless of its nationality, can take part in the call for projects free of charge.

Applications may be submitted by the 20th of September 2013 using the Orange portal in Africa: www.starafrica.com.

More info at this page.

EU: Study on Supporting the Entrepreneurial Potential of Higher Education

EU logoThe European Commission launches an open call for tenders with the aim to develop a stronger evidence base of entrepreneurial potential of higher education and derive lessons for policy development.

The study should help in gaining a better understanding of the effective possibilities of Higher Education Institutions in developing entrepreneurial activities, capabilities and characteristics.

The maximum budget available for the study is 300.000 Euro and the deadline is fixed on the 9th of September 2013.

More info at this page.

JPI-URBAN EUROPE - Coordinating research and innovation for making better use of Europe’s public funds

Urban Europe logoThe aim of the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe is to coordinate research and innovation in order to make better use of Europe’s public funds.

As part of this initiative, Urban Europe launches its second call to bring together partners from different European countries and thereby enable projects that would be  more relevant and capable than the ones developed by a single country on its own.

The call topics are: Governance of Urban Complexity and Urban Vulnerability, Adaptability and Resilience.

A total amount of joint public funding of approximately 15.000.000 Euro will be provided by national funding agencies from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Each project proposal must be submitted by a project consortium consisting of at least three eligible applicants from at least three participating countries. Each applicant is required to have the interest and competence to undertake research, development or innovation within the specified themes.

The deadline for the proposal submission is the 18th of September 2013.

More info at this page.

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Interesting Initiatives

StartUp Cup

StartUp Cup logoStartUp Cup is a global network of locally driven business model competitions open to any type of business idea. It can be replicated in any community and is a proven model to create viable businesses, grow jobs and enhance entrepreneurial ecosystems.

According to the promoters of this initiative, the competitive process can educate entrepreneurs to design a viable business model, develop customers and accelerate their startups into the marketplace thanks to a comprehensive judging, coaching, and mentoring process.

Read more here.

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Publications

Global Innovation Index 2013


GII 2013Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO (INSME Member) co-published The Global Innovation Index (GII), in 2013 in its sixth edition.

The GII recognizes the key role of innovation as a driver of economic growth and prosperity and acknowledges the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation that is applicable to both developed and emerging economies, with the inclusion of indicators that go beyond the traditional measures of innovation (such as the level of research and development in a given country).

The theme of the GII 2013 is "The Local Dynamics of Innovation” and reflects the importance of local hubs and geographic concentrations of universities, companies, specialized suppliers, service providers and associated institutions in fostering innovation.

According to the report, the top 5 most innovative economies are Switzerland, Sweden,U.K., Netherlands and U.S.

Download the report at this page.
 

World Investment Report 2013

WIR 2013The World Investment Report 2013, published by UNCTAD (INSME Member) presents the latest trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) and contains in-depth analysis of policy developments, investment prospects and key emerging issues related to investment, including financial flows via offshore centres and divestments.

One of the most interesting results of this analysis is that in 2012 - for the first time ever - developing economies absorbed more FDI than developed countries.

In addition, they generated almost one third of global FDI outflows.

Download the report at this page.

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Recommended Website

Unified Patent Court Website

UPC logo The Agreement on the Unified Patent Court was signed by 25 EU Member States on the 19th of February 2013, with the aim of creating a specialised patent court with exclusive jurisdiction for litigation relating to European patents - a bundle of national patents with no single jurisdiction for disputes - and European patents with unitary effect, a legal title ensuring uniform protection for an invention across 25 Member States on a one-stop shop basis, providing huge cost advantages and reducing administrative burdens.

The Court has not entered in force yet, but in its website you can find all the documentation and the news about the Preparatory Committee.

Until the 1st of October 2013 the draft Rules of Procedure shall be open to written comments from stakeholders or other interested parties.  You can find the details of this consultation at this page.

Visit the official website of the Unified Patent Court

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Recommended Newsletter

Eureka eZine

Eureka logo

Eureka eZine is the newsletter of EUREKA, the European research and development funding and coordination organization, aiming to coordinate efforts of Governments, research institutes and commercial companies concerning innovation. 


It is published twice a month and you can subscribe to it here.

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Events

Highlighted events

Daejeon25th - 27th of September 2013
WTA Daejeon Hi-Tech Fair

Daejeon, Republic of Korea


The 10th edition of the Daejeon Hi-Tech Fair will take place from the 25th to the 27th of September 2013 and is organized by the World Technopolis Association - WTA (INSME Member) under the topic “Creative industry and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem”.

The main objectives of the WTA Hi-Tech Fair are as follow:

  • to promote high-technology transfer and international trade among WTA Members with the aim to enhance their competitiveness in global business;
  • to promote technology transfer on new high-technologies in a global context;
  • to strengthen interactive relationships among WTA Members providing mutual benefits.

Learn more about the event at the this link

Future International meetings, workshops, seminars selected by INSME

12th – 31st of August 2013
European Forum Alpbach 2013
Organized by EFA
Alpbach, Austria

3rd – 6th of September 2013
The 16th TCI Annual Global Conference "Designing the Future – Innovation through strategic partnerships"
Organized by TCI Network
Kolding, Denmark

4th – 6th of September 2013
Entrepreneurs Festival 2013
Organized by UK Trade & Investment
Manchester, UK

6th of September 2013
Conference on Green Technologies - IP, Technology Transfer and Dispute Resolution in the Energy Sector
Organized by WIPO
Bonn, Germany

18th – 20th of September 2013
Innovation in Mind
Organized by Lund University and Region Skane
Lund, Sweden

18th – 21st of September 2013
19th International Conference on Small and Medium Enterprises (ICSME)
Organized by the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME)
Durban, South Africa

21st – 24th of September 2013
Innovation on the Edge
Organized by the Economic Developers Association of Canada
St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

24th – 27th of September 2013
2013 International Conference
Organized by the Association of University Research Parks (AURP)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

26th – 28th of September 2013
IX International Salon of Inventions and New Technologies
Among the organizers: the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sport of Ukraine and the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine
Sevastopol, Ukraine

29th of September – 1st of October 2013
Second Arab Innovation Network Annual Conference
Organized by the Arab Innovation Network
Alexandria, Egypt

1st – 2nd of October 2013
Sustainability Applied 2013
Organized by The Bloom Centre for Sustainability
Mississauga, Canada

7th – 9th of October 2013
Innovation Days 2013
Organized by Universal Medica Group
Paris, France 

22nd - 24th of October 2013
EPO Patent Information Conference
Organized by European Patent Office and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development
Bologna, Italy

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