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April 2019, Issue n. 175
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Updates on the life of the INSME Network
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“Fintech & Logistics: New Opportunities & Markets for SMEs”: just over a month to the 15th INSME Annual Meeting
In just over a month policy makers, entrepreneurs, academics, innovators and practitioners will gather in Naples to attend the 15th INSME Annual Meeting.
Under the topic “Fintech & Logistics: New Opportunities & Markets for SMEs” the event will be a unique occasion to explore the meeting’s core theme from different perspectives. This will enable a wider vision on the key role fintech can play in addressing SMEs’ financial issues, on the future market scenarios and the opportunities that can be grasped as well as on how the global shipping and logistics chains are reshaped by digital technologies and new international routes.
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A new Innovation Best Practice to take inspiration from: the China IPR SME Helpdesk
Since 2008 the China IPR SME Helpdesk is active to support European companies in their internationalisation strategies towards China and in raising awareness of the importance of IP as a business asset and increasing the overall participation of European companies within the Chinese market.
Discover more about the innovative tool implemented by the China IPR SME Helpdesk by reading the newly published innovation best practice available in the INSME Observatory.
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INSME Secretary General at the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship
On the 10th and 11th of April INSME Secretary General Giovanni Zazzerini was among the delegates participating to the 55th session of the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship.
Delegates gathered to discuss key recent policy initiatives in OECD member and non-member countries and to explore the results of the OECD Scoreboard “Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2019” that provides information about SMEs and entrepreneurs’ access to finance over the period 2007-2017.
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BE.ST. BEst practices to STimulate Serbian SMEs growth: INSME delivered the first Best Practice Lab
With the aim to contribute to Serbian SMEs growth, INSME is carrying out a project in collaboration with Cluster House that has been granted by the Central European Initiative (CEI).
After a first phase dedicated to the analysis of the local business environment, on the 15th and 16th of April, INSME Secretary General Giovanni Zazzerini met 40 young entrepreneurs from family businesses and start-uppers who took part to the first of three Best Practices Labs designed to enhance participants’ skills and competences.
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The EC positively evaluated the XPRESS project INSME will contribute to
INSME is part of the winning consortium that will implement a Horizon 2020 project recently approved by the European Commission.
The XPRESS project (Support for Public Procurements to facilitate the collaboration between SMEs and public sector for the development and adoption in renewables in regions) aims at facilitating the introduction of innovative renewables (RES) technologies and increasing the share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption.
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News and contributions from the INSME Members
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Italian Government accepted the CONFAPI proposal to reduce the time available for payment among private companies
CONFAPI, the Italian Confederation of Private Small and Medium Industries (INSME Member) achieved an important result in support of SMEs. The Italian Government has indeed welcomed CONFAPI proposal to reduce the time available for payments among private entities and this will considerably support SMEs competitiveness. As demonstrated by a research carried out by CONFAPI bringing the time available for payments from 150-180 to 60 credit days will produce a decrease of SMEs’ debt up to 55,45%.
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The OECD Going Digital Toolkit
As digital technologies and data are affecting our economies and societies, it is crucial to manage this transformation in a way that enables countries to take out the most from it. With the recently developed Going Digital Toolkit, the OECD helps countries navigate these changes and the trade-offs that policy makers need to make.
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Industry4WRD Readiness Assessment: a programme by SME Corp Malaysia
Industry 4.0 is bringing significant changes and its impact on the economic system is very relevant. This is a huge phenomenon that affects also countries like Malaysia that is implementing measures and policies dedicated to the manufacturing sector in order to enable it to adapt to this global change by re-evaluating its current approaches and strategies to remain relevant and competitive.
One of the most recent measures is the Industry4WRD Readiness Assessment, a programme that supports companies to assess their readiness to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies and processes. INSME Member SME Corp Malaysia is among the entities that have implemented this programme that through a set of indicators helps to identify firms capabilities and gaps and to design effective strategies to operate in Industry 4.0.
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INSME's Picks in the News
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The U.S. Small Business Administration announces the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Road Tour
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced the launch of a 16-stop road tour to raise awareness of innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers and small technology firms on the funding opportunities provided through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
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The EU's future framework programme for research and innovation is taking shape
The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a common understanding on the majority of the operative provisions of Horizon Europe, the next EU framework programme on research and innovation for the years 2021 to 2027.
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INNOWWIDE: call for applications for viability assessment projects in international markets
The first call for applications for viability assessment projects in international markets addressing for-profit innovative SMEs from any sector and based in an EU Member State or in an Horizon 2020 associated country has been recently launched by the INNOWWIDE project consortium. The objective of the call is to bring innovative European SMEs to the forefront of international markets by creating the conditions to increase the uptake of European innovative solutions in markets outside of Europe. The call will support Viability Assessment Projects (VAPs) that must involve combinations of the following activities: co-creation and technology uptake facilitation (innovation and technology transfer services); market prospection including market research, compliance verification, business prospection trips, specific promotional technical material preparation.
The budget available for this call is EUR 3 Million and each approved VAP will receive a fixed grant amount of EUR 60,000, representing a maximum of 70% of total eligible project costs, which should be a minimum of EUR 86,000.
The deadline to apply is the 31st of May 2019.
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The "ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2014-2020" has launched the new call for proposals for strategic projects
A new call for strategic projects has been launched under the ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2014-2020, a multilateral cross-border cooperation programme co-financed by the European Union under the European Neighbourhood Instrument – ENI. This call intends to address 7 thematic priorities: 1) support innovative start-ups and recently established enterprises; 2) strengthen and support euro-Mediterranean networks; 3) support technological transfer and commercialisation of research results; 4) provide young people, especially those belonging to the NEETS (not in education, employment or training), and women, with marketable skills; 5) water management; 6) waste treatment and recycling; 7) renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The Programme contribution to the projects may cover up to 90% of the total eligible costs of the project and must remain within a minimum of € 2.5 million and a maximum of € 3.5 million. The remaining percentage has to be covered by partners’ own resources or by public and private sources other than the European Community Budget or the European Development Fund.
The deadline for submitting project proposals is the 3rd of July 2019.
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The Africa Netpreneur Award is now open
The Africa Netpreneur Award is an initiative of the Jack Ma Foundation to recognize African entrepreneurs who are building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future.
The prize has been designed to be fully inclusive: entrepreneurs of any age, gender, and sector who are nationals from any 54 African countries are encouraged to apply.
Only 10 businesses will be selected to participate in the Grand Final even to pitch Jack Ma and compete for US$1 million in total prize money.
The deadline for applications is the 30th of June 2019.
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The Green Alley Award: the startup prize for circular economy
Startups and entrepreneurs based in Europe who have innovative ideas to tackle the global waste challenges by using digital circular economy, recycling and waste prevention solutions are invited to apply for the Green Alley Award.
The Green Alley Award is based on an idea of the Landbell Group, Seedmatch, Bethnal Green Ventures and R2Pi that were willing to promote promising business ideas that use new services, products and technologies to turn waste into a resource.
Finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors during an all-day event in Berlin providing great networking and learning opportunities, while the winner will receive 25,000 Euro in cash prize.
The deadline for applications is the 25th of June.
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Fintech: the opportunity for MENA
The Fintech sector is raising globally and is doing the same in the MENA region: as a matter of fact the number of startups offering financial services in the region doubled from 46 to 105 in the last three years (2013-15). The report “Fintech in MENA – Unbundling the financial services in the industry” by Wamda and Payfort states that the exponential growth is due to four main opportunities: 1) 86% of adults don’t have a bank account 2) SME lending stands at half of the global average 3) the volume of ecommerce is set to quadruple over five years 4) 1 out of 2 bank customers is interested in new digital services.
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Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2019
The 8th edition of “Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2019” released by the OECD provides data from 46 countries around the world on debt finance, alternative finance instruments and financing conditions, as well as information on policy initiatives to improve access to finance. According to the report, bank lending to SMEs increased at a moderated pace across countries, with significant cross-country variation in 2017.
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2019 EBAN Annual Congress
3 – 4 of June | Helsinki, Finland
This year’s edition of the European Business Angels Network - EBAN (INSME Member from Belgium) Annual Congress is going to Helsinki, Finland on the 3rd and 4th of June. The event is renown to be one of Europe’s largest and most international business angel events as well as a pool of new ideas and trends, managing to bring together world’s most eminent business angels, VCs, entrepreneurs, policy and opinion makers in the field.
For those who will have the possibility to stay a little longer in Helsinki, the EBAN Congress experience will continue on the 5th and 6th of June in the form of the Arctic15 startup conference, where investors can meet with the best 450+ startups that the Arctic region has to offer.
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ICSB World Congress “The Future of Entrepreneurship”
18 - 21 of June | Cairo, Egypt
The world has never seen as many young people. They have the potential to solve global challenges and to become innovation leaders and thinkers the society needs to advance social and economic progress. They represent the future of work and of entrepreneurship. This will be the core theme of the 64th ICSB World Conference organized by INSME Member from the US, the International Council for Small Business, from the 18th to the 21st of June in Cairo, Egypt.
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Future International meetings, workshops, seminars selected by INSME
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May
The European IP commercialisation training roadshow – focusing on a case study that will provide the knowledge of how developing the right IP approaches and applying sound IP management can boost a business.
Organised by the European Patent Academy and the European IP Helpdesk
7 of May | Bucharest, Romania
EUREKA Global Innovation Summit, the international meeting place for businesses and innovation agencies to share knowledge, network, collaborate and secure future business growth opportunities.
Organised by EUREKA
14-16 of May |Manchester, UK
OECD Forum “World in EMOTION” gathering high-level government representatives, CEOs, leaders from civil society and trade unions as well as prominent members of academia and media to discuss the key economic and social challenges on the international agenda.
Organised by the OECD
20-21 of May | Paris, France
ASTP-PROTON Annual Conference 2019 on “Creating Value from Knowledge”
Organised by ASTP-PROTON in association with Knowledge Transfer Ireland - KTI
21-23 of May | Dublin, Ireland
June
15th INSME Annual Meeting on “Fintech & Logistics: New Technologies and Markets for SMEs”
Organised by INSME in collaboration with SRM - the Economic Research Centre related to Intesa Sanpaolo Group (INSME Sustaining Member) & the Authority of the Central Tyrrhenian Sea Port System
6 - 7 of June | Naples, Italy
The European Association of Guarantee Institutions - AECM Annual Event on “New Technologies”
Organized by AECM
12 - 15 of June | Antwerp, Belgium
ISPIM Innovation Conference “Celebrating Innovation – 500 since da Vinci” - the gathering for researchers, managers, executives and consultants, with a passion for innovation management.
Organized by ISPIM
16 - 19 of June | Florence, Italy
EU-funded mission in the ICT sector - An opportunity for selected companies to explore the Singaporean and Thai markets and extend their businesses with the support of the EU.
Organised by EU Gateway | Business Avenues
17 - 22 of June | Singapore & Bangkok, Thailand
The Italian Tech Week - a range of meetings among entrepreneurs, business angels and international VCs, expos of technologies for businesses and education, experiences from social enterprises, workshops about tech careers, and related events with the main players of the global-tech scene.
Organised by Turin Chamber of Commerce
25 - 28 of June | Turin, Italy
Torino FashionMatch - the brokerage event providing participants with international contacts from all over the world and facilitating the creation of business agreements in the fashion industry.
Organized by Unioncamere Piemonte (INSME Member) in collaboration with the Enterprise Europe Network
29 of June - 1 of July | Turin, Italy
September
The XVII International Triple Helix Conference
Organized by The Triple Helix Association
9 - 11 of September | Cape Town, South Africa
NETVAL Summer Conference "Creating value from research"
Organized by NETVAL
16 - 19 of September | Rome, Italy
The European Research and Innovation Days - bringing stakeholders together to shape future research and innovation policy.
Organized by the European Commission
24 - 26 of September | Brussels, Belgium
36th IASP World Conference on Science Parks and Areas of Innovation
The 4th Industrial Revolution: areas of innovation and science parks as key boosters for a successful transition.
Organized by the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation - IASP
24 - 27 of September | Nantes, France
October
Global SME Finance Forum 2019: The Convergence of the Real and Financial Sectors in SME
Organized by the SME Finance Forum
7 - 9 of October | The Netherlands
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