"Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovative SMEs in a Global Economy. Towards a more Responsible and Inclusive Globalisation"
 The Istanbul Conference is the second OECD Ministerial Conference on SMEs and Globalisation that took place on June 4-5, 2004 in order to take forward the Bologna Process.
The event was jointly organised by the OECD through the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI) and the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade through KOSGEB. 87 countries were invited to participate in the conference. Among them, 30 are OECD countries and 57 non-OECD.
 A number of preparatory workshops were organised before the event in order to foster discussion among OECD and Non-OECD economies on SMEs, Entrepreunership and other issues related to the Conference: - 8-10 September 2003
Entrepreunership in a Global Economy: Strategic issues and Policies"
Budapest, Hungary
Jointly organised by the OECD and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Hungary. - 17-19 September 2003
Improving Statistics on SMEs and Entrepreneurship
Paris, France
Jointly organised by the OECD Statistics Directorate and the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI) - 2-3 December 2003
Trade Capacity Building and Private Sector Development in Asia
Paris, France
Jointly sponsored by the OECD Development Directorate and the Development Centre in collaboration with the Government of Cambodia.
The Istanbul Conference focused on the following main themes:
- Theme 1 - Fostering Entrepreneurship, including Women's Entrepreneurship, and Firm Creation as a Driver of Growth in a Global Economy
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- Theme 2 - Financing Innovative SMEs in a Global Economy
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- Theme 3 - Fostering SME's access to innovation and technology through access to financing and through clusters, networks and partnership
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- Theme 4 - SME Stastics: towards a more systematic statistical measurement of SME behaviour
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- Theme 5 - Facilitating SMEs access to international markets
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- Theme 6 - Promoting ICT use and e-commerce adoption by SMEs
 Besides these, two cross-cutting themes were discussed: SME statistics and the evaluation of SME policies and programmes.
At the end of the Ministerial Conference a final declaration was released, where Ministers reaffirm the need to support the development of the best set of public policies that foster the creation and rapid growth of innovative SMEs. At page 2 of the Declaration, a reference to INSME is made.
Moreover, a Business Forum on "SMEs: Innovation, Techology & ICTs" took place during the days preceding the Ministerial Conference. In this way, conclusions were provided to ministers for discussion. The Business Forum comprised two events: a Business Symposium (3 June 2004) and a Global Marketplace (2 to 6 June 2004). The subject of both events was focused and limited to the topics of new technologies, innovation and ICTs. A website dedicated to the Istanbul Ministerial Conference is available for further information at
http://www.oecd-istanbul.sme2004.org/ (English, French and Turkish versions available). In addition, OECD -DSTI released an information flyer on the Bologna Process addressing in particular the themes of the 2004 Istanbul Ministerial Conference.
The Business Symposium
"SMEs Competing in a Knowledge Economy" The Business Symposium offered business organisations and individual firms (both small and large) the opportunity to strengthen their co-operation at international level and to influence government policies and the international agenda for SMEs. The Symposium was attended by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of SMEs and large firms, representatives of federations of entrepreneurs at the national and supranational level, providers of SME financing (e.g. banks, financial institutions) and agencies providing business services for the globalisation of SMEs. Representatives of international organisations were also invited to participate in the Business Symposium. Download:
the programme of the Business Symposium:
English Version
French Version
the Business Symposium Recommendations:
English Version View the photo gallery of the Business Symposium:
 http://www.insme.info/page.asp?IDArea=1&page=istanbul_02 The Global Marketplace The Global Marketplace offered enterprises, business associations and technical centres the opportunity to display their activities and products and benefit from pre-arranged Business-to-Business (B-to-B) appointments. The INSME Association was present at the Global Marketplace with a stand, where a 3 minute INSME promotion video was displayed. A photo gallery of the INSME stand at the Global Marketplace is available. | 
