The first global forum on small and medium enterprises (SME) has called for greater focus on technology, training and innovation as well as intellectual property protection to ensure long term sustainability in the region.

The SME forum, which ran from April 21 to 23 in Dubai, concluded with a commitment to enhance the sector in key areas.

The forum on SMEs was hosted by Dubai Institute of Technology (DIT), a TechnoPark initiative under Economic Zones World (EZW), in association with the International Network for Small and Medium Enterprises (INSME).

The forum, which attracted over 270 industry leaders from more than 40 countries, stimulated urgent, proactive action on SME development through a commitment to key collaborations that will form the blueprint for SME success within the region in the coming months.

“Firstly, DIT will collaborate with the UN Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) to establish a centre in Dubai to attract direct investment in technology, with a direct goal of creating SME funding,” said Salma Hareb, chief executive officer of EZW.

“In the second key pillar that supports the blueprint, DIT will work with the Switzerland based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Unido to establish the region’s first design innovation centre, to be based in Dubai,” she added.

“The third major outcome of the event is that DIT will partner with TORCH, the Chinese business network to set up a base in Dubai to attract Chinese capabilities, including industries, R&D, universities and other related institutions, resulting in the translation of these ideas into solid, real-world industrial applications.”

Hareb stressed the need for better and faster capital access which can provide the much needed growth momentum for SMEs.

The roundtable sessions and the open panel discussions of the forum saw quality interaction between industry leaders, research experts and academia, coming up with ideas and strategies to make maximum use of SMEs remarkable economic potential.

The DIT SMEs Forum, under the theme “Building a knowledge-based eco-system for SMEs: Finance, innovation, technology and networking” focused mainly on SME financing, cross border networking, transnational technology transfer, entrepreneurship and SME innovation and intellectual capital structure.

The Forum also hosted the fifth INSME Annual Meeting 2009, the first INSME annual meet to be held in the region. – TradeArabia News Service