EU launches educational guidebooks for SME, StartUps & Innovation Clusters | EU Guidebook Series: How to Support SME Policy from Structural Funds

European Commission, Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry launches "Guidebook Series: How to Support SME Policy from Structural Funds". Presently the series includes eleven guidebooks related to innovation in SMEs and availability of structural funds for SMEs. Each guidebook deals with a specific area of SME policy and includes examples of recent projects. A general guide provides an overview of the whole process.

The titles published so far in the "Guidebook Series: How to Support SME Policy from Structural Funds" (Download each Guidebook by clicking on individual title):

1. Building Entrepreneurial Mind-sets and Skills in the EU: A Smart Guide on promoting and facilitating entrepreneurship education for young people with the help of EU structural funds
   
2. Using Standards to Support Growth, Competitiveness and Innovation
3. Facilitating Transfer of Business
4. The Smart Guide to Service Innovation: How to better capitalise on service innovation for regional structural change and industrial modernisation
5. Regional implementation of the SBA – Small Business Act for Europe
6. How to Use Structural Funds for SME & Entrepreneurship Policy
7. Supporting the Internationalisation of SMEs
8. Public Procurement as a Driver of Innovation in SMEs and Public Services
9. Fostering Business Angel Activities in Support of SME Growth
10. Improving Resource Efficiency in SMEs
    
11. Smart Guide to Cluster Policy

These guidebooks will surely be useful to SMEs operating in the emerging countries and BRICS nations.

  

English/ Hindi Essay Writing Contest 2016 on "Farmers of 21st Century India & Agrarian Vision of Sardar Patel"

English/ Hindi Essay Writing Contest 2016
Topic: "Farmers of 21st Century India & Agrarian Vision of Sardar Patel"

Conditions:-
(1) Essays will be accepted in Hindi or English.
(2) It should be Handwritten/Typed in 2500 - 5000 words.
(3) Colleges/Universities' Students and Researchers are eligible.
(4) Last date for receiving entries will be 31st August 2016.
(5) Decision of the Committee will be final & binding.

1st Prize - Rs. 10,000/-
2nd Prize - Rs. 7,500/-
3rd Prize - Rs. 5,000/-
Consolation Prize(2) - Rs. 2,000/-

Essay may be sent by E-mail in MS word and Unicode font or krutidev010 font or by post on the address given below.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Smarak Trust
7, Jantar Mantar Road, New Delhi– 110001 | Tel:+91-11-23363867 | E-mail: svpstlibrary@gmail.com
Website: www.sardarpatellibrary.com
H. K. Gupta, Admn. Officer 9818339100  | Ms. J. Chandra, Library In-charge 9717247111

Further Details

CfPs: International Conference on Food, Water, Energy Nexus in Arena of Climate Change | October 2016 | AAU Anand, Gujarat, India

International Conference on Food, Water, Energy Nexus in Arena of Climate Change
14-16 October 2016

Venue: Anand Agricultural University (AAU), Anand, Gujarat, India

Call for Papers:

Sub-themes: Impact of Climate Change, Food Security, Agriculture, Livestock, Climate Smart and Sustainable Agriculture, Impact on Poor Farmers and their Needs, Climate Change and Water Cycle – Agriculture, Food, Water, Energy Nexus, Biodiversity, Biotechnology, Bio-char, Solar and Wind Energy, Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency, Multi-Source of Income.

Revised dates for Submission

• Abstract Submission: July 1, 2016
• Acceptance of Research Paper: July 15, 2016
• Final Paper Submission: August 1, 2016 | Contact Details: deanagri@aau.in and visit http://www.aau.in/climate
• Registration Dates: Last date 15th August, 2016 (Registration form available on website)
• Conference Dates & Venue: October 14-16, 2016 / Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India
  

Organizers: National Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership (NCCSD), Website: www.nccsdindia.org / Anand Agricultural University (AAU), Anand, Gujarat, India

Further Details: http://www.aau.in/climate

India unveils National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP)

India unveils National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP)

In the Plan document, Prime Minister Narendra Modi describes the significance of the Plan: "The aim of the plan is to make India disaster resilient. It will help to maximize the ability of the country to cope with disasters at all levels by integrating disaster risk reduction into development and by increasing the preparedness to response to all kinds of disasters. The Plan takes into account the global trends in disaster management. It incorporates the approach enunciated in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which is an agreement under the auspices of the United Nations to which India is a signatory." This national plan is prepared in continuation of the National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 Hazard Risk and Vulnerability - National Profile

3 Reducing Risk; Enhancing Resilience

4 Preparedness and Response

5 Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance

6 Recovery and Building Back Better

7 Capacity Development - An Overview

8 Financial Arrangements

9 International Cooperation

10 Maintaining and Updating the Plan

Annexure-I: List of NDMA's Disaster Management Guidelines

Annexure-II: Hazard Vulnerability Maps for India

Earthquake Vulnerability Zones of India

Flood Vulnerability Zones of India

Wind and Cyclone Vulnerability Zones of India

Glossary

National Disaster Management Plan, 2016. An open access publication of the National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India, May 2016, New Delhi. Download.

Download National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP), 2016.

[UNESCO CI News] CI highlights

UNESCO Communication and Information Weekly Newsletter

• 17.06.16 UNESCO advocates for SDG 16 at European Development Days UNESCO advocated for the contribution of press freedom and access to information to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16 during the European Development Days, Europe leading's forum on development, which took place this year on 15 and 16 June in Brussels, Belgium.

• 16.06.16 Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression: Malian Security Forces Trained Bamako 15 June 2016- The UNESCO Bamako Office, in partnership with the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection and EUCAP Sahel Mali, organized, from 13 to 15 June 2016, at the Peacekeeping School in Bamako, a training workshop on the safety of journalists, freedom of expression and press freedom.

• 15.06.16 The Memory of the World Regional Workshop on Archives Preservation opened in Xi'an, China The UNESCO Memory of the World workshop on Archives Preservation in the Asia Pacific Region was officially opened yesterday in Xi'an. The event was organized by the Memory of the World Regional Committee for Asia Pacific (MOWCAP) and the State Archives Administration of China (SAAC), in cooperation with the Shaanxi Provincial Archives and Shaanxi Normal University.

• 13.06.16 Director-General condemns murder of journalist Víctor Hugo Valdez Cardona in Guatemala The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has denounced the killing of broadcast journalist Víctor Hugo Valdez Cardona in Guatemala.

• 13.06.16 Combatting Online Hate Speech and Youth Radicalization UNESCO, in partnership with the German National Commission for UNESCO, will be hosting a session on Combatting Online Hate Speech and Youth Radicalization in Bonn (Germany), on 14 June 2016, within the framework of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, which opens on Monday.

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New Article| Emerging Structure of Stem Cell Research in India: An Analysis of Publication Output, 1990-2014 | by A Pandey & PN Desai, JSCIRES

#JSCIRES Article|
Emerging Structure of Stem Cell Research in India: An Analysis of Publication Output, 1990-2014
by Arpana Pandey & Pranav N Desai
http://jscires.org/article/135

Abstract: The potential of stem cell to change the face of medical treatment has brought it to the forefront of medical science in recent years. The present study analyzes the stem cell research output of India during 1990-2014 collected from the Scopus database. Some of the parameters used for analysis are publication output, publication share, growth rate, h-index, impact per paper, citation analysis, international collaboration and degree of collaboration, etc. The increasing significance of stem cell research was analyzed by ranking countries, institutions, authors, journals, etc. concerning total publication, their citation, and h-index. It is exciting to note that there has been notable growth in stem cell research publication from India. A total of 3964 papers were contributed by Indian authors during the study period, out of which 71.24% have been cited at least once and has a citation average of 9.27 citations per paper. Given the interdisciplinary and complex nature of the field, most of the research output is multiple authored and out of which more than one-third have internationally collaborated. The United States, which is the top most producing country, also the largest collaborative partner of India in stem cell research. The AIIMS and PlosOne are the most productive institution and journal respectively in this field.
Key words: Stem cell, Scientometrics, h-index and citation, Scopus.

Journal of Scientometric Research, Vol 5, Issue 1, Jan-Apr, 2016

http://jscires.org/v5/i1

Proceedings of the Conference is Now Available Online | International Conference on Pathways to Sustainable Urbanisation, 2016

[Apologies for the cross-postings]

International Conference on Pathways to Sustainable Urbanisation
Organized by: South Asia Sustainability Hub & Knowledge Network (SASH&KN), TRCSS@JNU; STEPS Centre, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) @University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Dates: January 29-30, 2016
Venue: JNU Convention Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Read the Proceedings of the Conference

Call for Applications: Chief Minister's Urban Leadership Fellows Programme (CMULF) 2016

Call for Applications: Delhi Chief Minister's Urban Leadership Fellows Programme (CMULF) 2016

About The Fellowship

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), led by the Honourable Chief Minister, has an ambitious mission to reform governance and transform the quality of life of all residents of Delhi in the next 5 years.

The Delhi Chief Minister's Urban Leadership Fellows (CMULF) program is a GNCTD initiative that provides unique opportunity to young leaders across India to work within the State government to address some of the most pressing urban challenges in India, and experience what "making change happen" looks like. The Fellowship aims to attract outstanding young men and women from across the country, under the age of 35 years, who are passionate about public service and are willing to work in GNCTD for one or two years.

The application deadline for the 2016 Fellowship program is 4th July 2016, and the Fellows will be appointed by end August 2016. Approximately 30 fellows will be selected in 2016.

For any questions related to the CMULF program, send us an email at cmulf.delhi@gmail.com

Apply Online

Call for Applications for Participation in BRICS Young Scientist Conclave | Bengaluru, India | September 2016

BRICS Young Scientists Conclave 2016
September 2016
Venue: National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India

Targeted participants

• Young bright scientists/ engineers/ technologists/ innovators/ techno-entrepreneurial start-up professionals/ science journalists-educators-science, literacy and popularizing professional / legal specialists on translational aspects of research and technology integration in society-market / researchers in the age group of 22-35 years. There is a provision to include exceptionally talented individuals from the BRICS nations, outside the age group 22-35 years.
• Open to science, engineering, and allied disciplines

Timeline
Applications shall be accepted through nominations by each BRICS STI nodal Ministries/ organizations and the last date for receiving applications/nominations is 15th July 2016. The format for submitting the Application and nominations is at (Annexure-2).

Funding Arrangement
The food, accommodation and local transport will be provided by the organizers for their stay during the conclave (to be borne by DST, India). The International air travel related expenses (airfare, medical insurance, visa fee etc) shall be met by respective nominating BRICS STI Ministries/ organizations.

Last date for receiving applications/nominations: 15th July 2016

Application Form and Further Details

Just Released "Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Dream for Prosperous India, Science and Technology in Nation-Building" by Pawan Sikka

[Apologies for cross-postings]

Just Released:
Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Dream for Prosperous India, Science and Technology in Nation-Building

by Pawan Sikka, Uppal Publishing, New Delhi, ISBN: 9788176580892, INR 1295.00

About the Book
This book: "Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Dream for Prosperous India, Science and Technology in Nation-Building" offers for the first time an attempt to understand the scientific profile of a political leader, veteran statesman, who with his modern outlook intended to provide technological solutions to the age-old problems afflicting the Indian society for long. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the 10th Prime Minister of India, during 1998-2004 yet his half-decade seems to have left an imprint which speaks a much longer period. He fostered an atmosphere of modernity in India. He dreamt India of the 21st Century. As a crusader of the modern science and technology, he accelerated the pace of change, towards the socio-economic development of the nation. This Book covers excerpts of his speeches and writings on science and technology, that have clearly brought out his thought process, priorities and new action plan of modernizing India. He coined the word Jai Vigyan, and added to the then existing slogan of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. Nuclear Tests Conducted in 1998, during his reign unambiguously established India as a Nuclear Weapons State and the country was able to develop a minimizing credible deterrent to ward-off threat to its security. His penchant for science and technology, as well as broader scientific outlook led to the enactment of national level policy declarations for: Agriculture, Telecom, Water, Health, Population, Textile, Patent modification, Information Technology, Biodiversity, Wild Life Conservation, Science & Technology, etc. Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee firmly believed in the potential of utilising science and technology, towards making India, a strong, modern, prosperous and resurgent nation in the world.

About the Author
Dr. Pawan Sikka (b. 1944), during the era of Vajpayee's government, 1996-2004, was Scientist-G/ Advisor, Government of India, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, and there he witnessed the progress made in the field of science and technology, towards the emergence of prosperous India, besides its interactions with the global scientific world. During his dynamic years, 1974-2004, Dr. Pawan Sikka has held various senior technical positions in DST.
He has received his MSc, PhD; as well as, DSc degrees in Physics. He was awarded Visiting Fellowship by the British Government, as British Scholar, for the academic year 1984-85, for undertaking Science Policy Studies concerning Science & Technology, Society and Development. He is also recipient of UNESCO, Swiss, German and Italian government scholarships for pursuing further studies there in the new and emerging fields of science and technology. He is best known for his contributions to science policy studies in India and abroad. He is a life-member of the MaterialsResearch Society of India; Semi-conductor Society of India; Association of British Scholars, and Oxford and Cambridge Society of India.
 

Further Details

Invitation: Workshop on Urban Biodiversity- 16-17th June, 2016

Dear Members,

 

Hope you had an engaging World Environment Day.

 
We are writing to cordially invite you for a workshop on Urban Biodiversity on 16^th June 2016.
 
It is our pleasure to inform you that Workshop on Urban Biodiversity is organized by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in partnership with The Climate Reality Project India, ICLEI, INTACH and ESPA program for UK Aid.

 
The workshop on "Urban Biodiversity: An opportunity to promote nature based solutions" is planned to be organized on 16^th June at INTACH, 71 Lodhi Estate, New Delhi 110003. The workshop will be followed by Nature Walk and Plantation in Aravali Biodiversity Park on next day i.e. 17^th June, which is World Day to Combat Desertification.

 
The workshop will see the presence from Delhi Government, MoEFCC, DDA, Business associations and other environmental organizations. To find out more details on the workshop, please find the brochure here.
 
May I kindly request you to confirm your presence at sheetal@tcpf-india.org .

 
Thank you and Best Regards,

Warm Regards

Aditya Pundir

The Climate Reality Project India

New Delhi

 

India should create a world-class Reverse Innovation Lab: Vijay Govindrajan

India should create a world-class Reverse Innovation Lab: Vijay Govindrajan
by Rica Bhattacharyya  |  ET Bureau  |  02 February 2016 |
India should create a world-class reverse innovation lab, with the central government allocating a significant sum to start such a facility, says Vijay Govindrajan, Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and a Marvin Bower Fellow at Harvard Business School.
In an interview to ET's Rica Bhattacharyya, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author and expert on strategy and innovation says the purpose is not just to provide a space where entrepreneurs can come but also venture money and more importantly management expertise. Edited excerpts:

What are the biggest hurdles to innovation for startups in India?
The entrepreneurship focus here is right but we have to take a look at the steps that we take to reach that goal.
What is missing to me is strategies in place for that to happen. Entrepreneurship and new businesses just don't happen by itself. It is less to do with individual capability, which means that there is nothing inherently wrong with Indians whether they can or cannot innovate.
It is the same Indians who innovate when they go abroad, but they don't innovate here, so what is really missing is incentive, capital and institutional infrastructure. If you put those in place, I don't see any reasons why it can't spur innovation here.

How do you view Indian 'jugaad' vis-a-vis high technology?
Indian startups need to focus on high-tech innovation and not jugaad. Jugaad would be a mistake and I think we have taken the train off the track with this jugaad innovation concept.
We need the latest technology, not old technology, to solve our problems. A term like jugaad puts the emphasis on the wrong place. What is wrong with jugaad is that to solve big complicated problems you can't say that I will make do with what we have. We have to invest in research and development.
If you have to bring the cost down, you have to put the latest technology. In the US, the government produces a lot of big research and it benefits a lot of entrepreneurs, or the basic research is taking place in the big universities and the entrepreneurs benefit from it. In India we don't have that culture of fundamental research in universities.

What role should the government play in spurring innovation?
If I was advising Narendra Modi I would say, 'why don't we create a world-class reverse innovation laboratory where the central government allocates some significant sum to start that lab', and the purpose is not just to provide a space where entrepreneurs can come but also to give venture money and more importantly give management expertise.
Most of the problems in startups are in the initial phases where they have to take an idea work through all the unknowns and uncertainties. That is the step where they fail. That's where we can give real management expertise.
It is almost like an incubation lab where you can have a national competition and say we are going to choose 25 big ideas and whoever has an idea can submit a proposal and you pick the top 25...and bring the team with each one of these ideas.
Some of the teams could be from large companies like Tatas, Mahindras...you bring the team for one or two years, they work inside this reverse innovation lab where they will get the resources but most importantly expertise to incubate the idea...if you do that I think you can kick-start entrepreneurship and startups much better.

What are the execution challenges in reverse innovation in India where majority of the companies are family controlled?
The biggest execution challenge is that these are companies with tremendous amount of history and success over a long period of time, be it Tatas, Murugappa Group, TVS, Birlas, Mahindras.
When you have such a long history of success, innovation requires change and change becomes difficult in a company with a long history of success because it makes you believe what you have done in the past is correct. Therefore, they want to maintain status quo. They don't want to change and that is probably the biggest challenge.
The family ownership in these groups has an advantage but is also a liability. The biggest advantage is patient capital, they can take long-term bets. The bad side is they have the biggest forgetting problem because if you want to innovate you have to forget. If you can't forget you can't learn new things.
Family orientation brings a lot of lethargy and those are the reasons why they struggle (in reverse innovation). I am not underestimating the difficulties of these companies, but when I talk to them I tell them these are the traps into which you could fall.

Source: http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/india-should-create-a-world-class-reverse-innovation-lab-vijay-govindrajan/50815814

Critical Reviews of India's National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016

India's National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016, receives mixed reactions from the policy analysts, activists, industry experts and scholars of innovation studies. Some of the observations are appeared in the following online articles:

• National Intellectual Property Policy Suffers from a Lack of Conceptual Clarity. by Srividhya Ragavan, K. Subramanian | IndianExpress.com | June 11, 2016 | Download | The best aspects of the document are contained in the third objective discussing the legal and legislative framework.
• Why New IPR Policy Is Inadequate: Pressure from US Is Unstated Reason. by K M Gopakumar | Economic and Political Weekly | 21 May, 2016 | Download | By proposing a maximalist approach towards intellectual property rights, the new IPR policy announced by the government is not tailored for India's socio-economic requirements.
• National Intellectual Property Rights: Patently a Missed Opportunity. by Achal Prabhala & Sudhir Krishnaswamy | The Hindu | May 25, 2016 | Download
• India's New IP Policy: A "Bare" Act? by Shamnad Basheer | SpicyIP.com |  June 6, 2016 | Download
• Modi's New Intellectual Property Rights Policy Will Only Benefit Players with Deep Pockets. by Anubha Sinha | The Wire | May 21, 2016 | Download | The new policy fails to enact a balanced regime and instead is tilted in favour of rights-holders.
• Why You Just Can't Have a One-Size-Fits-All IPR Policy. by Sushila Ravindranath | June 13, 2016 | Financial Express | Download | The National IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) policy was released on May 11. This 38-page document will give directions to the government to promote 'creative and innovative India'.
• India Calls for Flexibilities in Intellectual Property Rights to Combat AIDS. by PTI | IndianExpress.com | June 10, 2016 | Download
• Ahead of Prime Minister Modi's Visit, Doctors Without Borders Urges India to Put People's Health Before Pharmaceutical Profits. by Doctorswithoutborders.org | June 02, 2016 | Download | India must resist pressure from US lawmakers and pharmaceutical industry groups to block access to key medicines for millions of people worldwide.
• At EU-India Summit, India Must Defend Its "Pharmacy of the Developing World". by Doctorswithoutborders.org | June 02, 2016 | Download | MSF urges Indian Prime Minister not to cave into pressure from EU to accept trade deal that could prevent millions of people from accessing lifesaving medicines.

• Indian National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016 | Department Of Industrial Policy & Promotion: Government of India | May 12, 2016 | Download

[apeid.higher_education.bgk] 5th UNESCO-APEID Meeting on Entrepreneurship Education, 26-29 September 2016, Indonesia

Dear all

We are happy to announce that the 5th UNESCO-APEID Meeting on Entrepreneurship Education, Transforming Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Businesses and Job Generation, will be held in Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia on 26-29 September 2016. 

UNESCO is organizing this meeting in collaboration with BINUS UNIVERSITY and Universitas Padjadjaran to enhance the quality of entrepreneurship education in Asia and the Pacific region. The specific objectives of the meeting are to: 

• Share and discuss key issues for transforming entrepreneurs to become job givers;

• Conduct workshops on selected topics, e.g., collaborative research, innovative pedagogy, optimizing technology for networking; and

• Showcase selected student enterprises.

For more information, please refer to the concept note. Due to limited budget and space, we can only accommodate about 80 participants. BINUS UNIVERSITY and Universitas Padjadjaran have very generously agreed to cover local costs – 4 nights' accommodation from Sunday to Thursday, meals for the duration of the meeting and transportation between Jakarta and Bandung. All other expenses will be the responsibility of the participants.

Please complete an application form by 12 August 2016. The information you provide will help to ensure that the participants selected will derive the greatest benefit from the meeting.

We apologize in advance to those who may not be included in the participant list. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

 

UNESCO EE-Net Secretariat

UNESCO Bangkok
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
T: +66 2 391 0577
F: +66 2 391 0866
Email: eenet@unesco.org

EE-Net Portal: www.unesco-eenet.org

URL: http://www.unescobkk.org/education/apeid/entrepreneurship-education

Meeting webpage: http://www.unescobkk.org/education/apeid/entrepreneurship-education/5eenet16 

Application form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5eenet16