<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> *** Preliminary Call for Papers ***</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">The 7th International Conference for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> Regional Development (ICEIRD 2014)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> 5-6 June 2014, Hilton Hotel | Nicosia, Cyprus</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> <a href="https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy">https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy</a></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Conference Theme: Igniting Regional Economies - Knowledge, Innovation</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> and Entrepreneurship in South East Europe</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">In the face of fragile economic recovery following the economic and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">financial crisis of 2008, many firms all around the world continue to</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">invest in growth-enhancing activities to achieve a sustainable</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">development. While the crisis has heavily hit all aspects of business</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">vested interests, investments in innovation, entrepreneurship and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">regional partnership have been the key priority to ensuring a strong</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">and stable economic growth.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">The objective of the conference is to gather decision makers</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">(government, ministries and state agencies), innovation experts</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">(universities, research and development centres, technology transfer</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">centres, start-up centres) and practitioners (smes, business</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">incubators and business support organisations) to generate discussion</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">and exchange on the potential of entrepreneurship promotion and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">innovation to national and regional competitiveness.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">CONFERENCE TOPICS OF INTEREST</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Creativity, Complexity and Competitiveness Issues for Small and Medium</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Enterprises (SMEs) in SEE vs. other regions (EU and other)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Leveraging e-skills for innovation in the knowledge society</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Managing and Leveraging Complexity, Creativity and Innovation in SMEs</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Trust, Respect, Culture and Collaboration Issues for SMEs in SEE vs.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> other regions (EU and other)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Leadership and Management practices that can be applied to SMEs</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* SME Knowledge management and technology transfer</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* SME Business process modeling</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* New Technology Ventures Financing</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Business incubation management and leadership</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Human Resources Practices for promoting innovation for SMEs</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">South East European Entrepreneurial Innovation Clusters</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* SMEs' Entrepreneurship as an Innovation Driver</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Opportunities and barriers for closer cooperation between South East</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> European SMEs in Innovation & Entrepreneurship:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Strategic Integration vs. Flexibility and SME Competitiveness</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Innovation Clusters, Technology Transfer and Social Entrepreneurship</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Social Networking as Driver of EICs formation</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Science & Technology Parks and EICs</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Young and Women Entrepreneurs development via EICs</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Benchmarking of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Best Practices in the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> region</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Innovation policy in SMEs</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Technology Innovation, Transfer and Commercialization across</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Governement, University, Industry domains</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* The role of the State and Public Policy with regards to SME Innovation</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> and Entrepreneurship</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Governmental and regional policies on entrepreneurship and innovation</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Entrepreneurial Universities and Entrepreneurial Innovation Clusters</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Entrepreneurship education</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* University - Industry collaboration</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* ICT and SME Regional competitiveness</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* SMEs and the role of the Innovation Zone (business centers and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> incubators)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Intangibles Valuation and Intellectual Property Rights</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Innovative Supply Chain Management practices in SEE</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Innovative Supply Chains</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Information Technology proliferation in SEE SMEs</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">ICEIRD í14 invites submissions of papers related to all the topics of</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">interest of the conference. Papers that address collaborations between</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">industry and academia, case studies as well as experience reports on</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">any of the conference themes are welcome. For more information on the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">conference topics, visit the ICEIRD 2014 webpage</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">(<a href="https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy">https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy</a>).</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">SUBMISSIONS</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Full Papers (for review)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Authors are requested to submit a full paper of 6-10 pages in either</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using the template found on the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">ICEIRD 2014 webpage (<a href="https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy">https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy</a>). The template has</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">all the styles required for formatting the text. The easiest way to</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">prepare the camera ready is to download the template, delete all</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">exixting text, add your unformatted text and use the styles (top-left</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">drop down menu) to format it. Only papers in this format will be</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">published. Submitted papers, which will go under blind review by at</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">least two referees, must be submitted electronically through the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">EasyChair Conference System:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "><a href="https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iceird2014">https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iceird2014</a>.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Camera Ready Papers (after acceptance)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Following acceptance, authors are requested to sumbit a camera-ready</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">paper using the template found on the website</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">(<a href="https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy">https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy</a>) to the secretariat of ICEIRD2014 by</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">email (<a href="mailto:iceird2014@seerc.org">iceird2014@seerc.org</a>) in both Microsoft Word or PDF format.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Guidelines for Presentations</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Each presentation will last 20 minutes (15 + 5 minutes for questions).</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">All rooms are fully equiped. Presenters will be requested to upload</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">their presentation at least 15 minutes before the start of their</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">session. Presenters could also use their own laptop. Techinal support</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">will be provided.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Proceedings</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">The Conference Proceedings, including all papers presented, will be</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">published as a SEERC book edited by the Conference Chairs.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">* Post-Conference Special Journal Issues</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Selected high quality papers from the conference will be recommended</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">for publication in the special issues of international journals. For</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">more information please visit the ICEIRD 2014 webpage</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">(<a href="https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy">https://iceird2014.cs.ucy.ac.cy</a>)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">The official language of the conference is English.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Publication is dependent on at least one author registering to attend</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">ICEIRD 2014.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Submissions should be submitted to the easychair account on or before</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">the deadline: <a href="https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iceird2014">https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iceird2014</a></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">IMPORTANT DATES</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Full paper submission: 1st of March 2014</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Notification of paper acceptance: 15th of March 2014</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Earlybird registration: 31th of March 2014</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Camera ready paper submission: 31th of March 2014</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">CONFERENCE CHAIRS</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Prof. George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus - General</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Chair</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Prof. Panos H. Ketikidis, CITY College - International Faculty of the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">University of Sheffield, Greece - Co-Chair</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px; "><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Stavriana A. Kofteros, Special Entrepreneurship & RDI Adviser,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; ">Democratic Rally (DISY), Cyprus - Co-Chair</div><div><br></div></body></html>