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Viisiteam silent force…
BULK OF  BIZIDEE CONTEST AWARDS IN FLANDERS GOES TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN STUDENTS
OF ANTWERP !!!

On Thursday March 22nd, the second phase of the annual business plan contest ‘Bizidee’ Flanders was concluded.
The annual competition, supported by the local government, is organized to stimulate entrepreneurship in the region,
and a jury selects the best of over 400 innovative business plans, submitted by innovative and entrepreneurial
students and professionals. The contest is held in 3 phases, and two categories (students and general category).
At the end of each phase, the ten best of each category get nominated and the best three awarded. As after the
first phase the originality and inventiveness of the business ideas was judged, after phase 2 a feasibility study is
submitted, and at the end of phase 3 this will be completed with a financial plan.  

Viisiteam has built up an excellent relationship with the ‘Hogeschool Antwerpen’, and has been providing assistance
in the coaching of the masters students in industrial design and product development for their business plan, which
is part of their curriculum. It has become common practice that the students actively take part in the competition,
and that they obtain excellent scores.

This time no less than SEVEN out of TEN made it to the final, proving their abilities as potential entrepreneurs and creative product developers. ‘Mudar’, a project prepared by Filip Van Ceulenbroeck, received the first prize in the student category, where the second prize was given to Bram Coudyzer with his project entitled ‘Mobile Monitoring Systems’.  Five more ended in the final 10: Ben Joossen, Ilse Veldhuis, Geert Van Genechten, Goedele Deckers and Nick De Mey. Filip’s project also got rewarded with the second prize in the general category, and a special prize given by the business TV channel ‘Kanaal Z’ went to ‘Design for Autism’, a project by Ilse Veldhuis. Viisiteam is proud of the performance of our future innovators, and we cross our fingers for the final straight towards another successful final!! Guido Giebens (more info on the contest in Dutch can be found at www.bizidee.be, where we also borrowed the picture for this article)

VIISITEAM ALSO IN POLAND

A consortium made up of 3 organisations - Meta Group (Consortium leader and INSME Member),
TII (INSME Partner) and EURADA – is relying on experts to support those regions that since 2001
have developed innovation strategies within RIS-NAC projects (Regional Innovation Strategies in
Newly Associated Countries, now new EU Member States) in converting these strategies into
effective action.

Called "Innovation Coach Project", this initiative has created a team of experts who can help the
RIS-NAC regions to accelerate and optimize the implementation of their Regional Innovation Strategy
via a programme of workshops, on-site training and individual coaching sessions.

Also Viisiteam member Guido Giebens got involved in this project. He is presently working on two
assignments in Poland, one in the south (Opole) and one in the north (Olsztyn).

During his first visit he had meetings with the academic staff, and held a lecture for the students
in the faculty of Economy at Opole University (see website)

VIISITEAM AT TII’S SUMMER SCHOOL IN SZEGED (HUNGARY) IN SEPTEMBER

TII’s annual “summer school” is an event where professionals from the scene of technology and knowledge transfer from science institutes to industry can meet and improve the skills needed for their activities. This year TII went to the south-east of Hungary for its Summer School event: the group settled for one week at the University of Szeged, in cooperation with the Hungarian Laser Consult Kft. Just like last year in Bologna, Viisiteam was invited to contribute to the success of the event.
20 participants from Great Britain, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary were put at work in a workshop. In the setting of a game developed by Viisiteam (‘Muebles para Todos’) they were sent out to on a mission to Latin America, and by doing that, they got carried away into the kicks, challenges and frustrations of working in international projects
During the week when the group was together, plenty of new contacts were made, and new plans forged for transnational European cooperation.

Reactions of participants:

‘I`d like to thank each and everybody who made this summer school come true: organizers,
trainers and host for such a great time we spent in Szeged getting to know all the interesting
things and exploring spa facilities, and new tastes of wine...:)

Also I`m very enthusiastic about the future cooperation and I am already appointed to
organize an interesting workshop next year. So hope to see you there too.’
(Diana, University of Münster)

‘I am very glad I participated at this TII summer school, it was a pleasure meeting all of you.’
(Szabolcs, IT Companies, Budapest)

‘Just a few lines to thank you for your excellent presentation at the TII summer school last week.
Judging from the evaluation forms it was well-appreciated by the audience. Your Meubles para
todos game never ceases to get people involved.’ (Christine, TII, Luxemburg)

NEW MASTERS PROGRAMME STARTED AT University of Antwerp Management School (UAMS):
MASTERS IN PRODUCT INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

At the UAMS a new masters programme was launched this year, aimed at young graduates who want
to extend their education in the field of entrepreneurship and product innovation. The programme is
constructed on a backbone of an existing curriculum, and was conceived under the stimulus of
Antwerp University together with Paul Verhaert (from Verhaert Industries).

Together, and with the blending of his industrial experience with the inputs of the Institute for Product
Development of the ‘Hogeschool Antwerpen’ an interesting course package was put together to appeal
the students. Right now, 11 students have enrolled for the first edition.

In the faculty of this programme, Viisiteam is contributing with Guido Giebens, who is leading a series
of lectures in the module entitled ‘Think Tanks and Creativity Generating Tools’.

More info can be found at www.uams.be

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