At this annual conference, innovation and R&D professionals find inspiration and motivation to innovate. They learn from new insights and best practices on new product and innovation management and technology development. With 16 inspiring sessions based on 4 tracks you learn what innovation initiatives you can take to make your company future proof.

Attend Innovation Day and discover:

• New technologies that are reshaping every industry
• How to transform into new services and business models.
• How to make your organization user centered.
• Major industry trends and how others transformed their business.

Sign up and create your personal program. Based on 4 tracks you can select the 5 sessions of your interest. Each track addresses the challenge to become more agile from a different perspective.

The post Innovation Day 2017: Industry transformation appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Innovation Day 2017: Industry transformation appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Bridging skill sets in a streamlined process

In a traditional development environment, we see companies managing several disciplines in parallel and then integrate them on a higher level. However, by bringing together the experts in a project team, you increase dynamics and efficiency.

Taking into account the composition of your team already starts at the beginning of a project. Primarily when you define the system architecture based on specific product requirements, such as volume, weight, speed, reliability, reuse of existing components … Then you already get an overview of the necessary disciplines.

For the redesign of Trinean’s UV/VIS reader we perfectly aligned the collaboration between mechanics, electronics, optics, software and design. This enabled us to optimize their existing plate reader and – above all – simplify the entire design.

Back to purity and simplicity

To speed up research automation, Trinean was looking to improve their existing UV/VIS reader. During the thorough exploration of the current reader’s core, we focused on simplification, performance and speed. For the optical design, we appealed to the expertise of our colleagues from Lambda-X (members of Masters in Innovation, the umbrella brand of the Verhaert Group).

It is complex to make things simple. Reducing the number of optical systems but increasing the speed at the same time, has a high impact on electronics and software. Therefore, it is very efficient to have an expert in the team of each discipline. Together with the R&D team of Trinean, we created outperforming features to boost performance, efficiency and precision.

As Trinean always strives to develop high-quality instruments, the design aspect has been important from the beginning. The design objective was to evoke an impression of high accuracy and reliability at first glance. Combined with some distinctive elegance in the details and signature elements, the result is an almost iconic design of this precision instrument. The DropSense 96 is superior to any other droplet UV/VIS reader currently on the market.

Microfluidic spectrophotometry platforms

Trinean is a Belgium based technology provider, developing innovative bio-sample QC platforms by combining microfluidics with best-in-class analytical software and highly standardized read-out platforms. They provide the life science industry and diagnostic labs with tailored QC tools shortening the sample turnaround time and minimizing the need for costly sample retesting.

Founded in 2006 as a spin-out of the Ghent University, Belgium and Imec Leuven, Belgium, the company commercializes the DropSense technology for high-speed biomolecule quantification and contamination analysis. Until today, more than 1000 DropSense platforms have been installed globally analyzing more than 30 million biological samples.

www.trinean.com

The post Multidisciplinary teams, essential to develop successful medical devices appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Multidisciplinary teams, essential to develop successful medical devices appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Space as a source of inspiration to innovate

Many existing technologies and innovations have their origins in space. Examples include telecommunications, meteorology and navigation, which have taken a prominent place in our daily lives. With high-quality technologies, knowledge and applications, space is a bottomless source of inspiration for innovation.

The investments made in space get added value when they are used in new projects on Earth. To encourage the use of space technology, imec, Verhaert and VITO launch the consortium ‘BlueSpace’ with an incubation program of the same name.

Sven De Cleyn, imec.istart program manager: “High-tech spin-offs are the future of Flanders. We see great opportunities in the use of space technologies. With ‘BlueSpace’ we want to support new initiatives that apply these opportunities.”

Technology transfer by ideation

Imec, Verhaert and VITO have a profound experience in supporting entrepreneurs to develop new ideas. Together they are a profitable cross-fertilization between creativity and technology. Therefore the ‘BlueSpace’ consortium adds a creative component to finding new applications, making a technology transfer more than just a license deal.

Sam Waes, coordinator technology transfer at Verhaert: “The potential of space technology is countless. After 3 years as broker and 1 year as manager in ESA’s Technology Transfer Network, we want to build a strong initiative in Flanders as a fertile breeding ground for technological innovations associated with space. As service provider in integrated product innovation we see a collaboration with start-ups as an enrichment for our developed tools and methodologies.”

Incubation program ‘BlueSpace’

The ‘BlueSpace’ incubation program offers coaching, technological expertise and facilities to entrepreneurs, both high-tech start-ups as spin-offs.

Steven Krekels, Unit Manager VITO Remote Sensing: “Space technologies for earth observation can really enrich and sharpen our industry. As a technological research center, we want to support innovations in the broadest sense. VITO Remote Sensing realizes sustainable social solutions by focusing on innovative technologies that also have an economically self-sufficient story. Europe is investing billions in programs such as Galileo and Copernicus. It is our mission to help those investments valorize for Flanders. Any entrepreneur who takes initiative in that domain, can count on our support to strengthen the Flemish socio-economic web.”

BlueSpace offers support at different locations in Flanders, with Antwerp as base. We like to give high-tech start-ups and spin-offs that use space technology a flying start.

The first initiative is ‘Space4Earth Innovation Week’, a collaboration with the University of Antwerp. From 13 till 17 March 2017 master students ‘product development’ will use space technology to search for new applications. This initiative is supported by Antwerp Space, AUREA (Antwerps Universitair Research centrum voor Evenwicht en Aerospace), Lambda-X, QinetiQ, Space Applications Services, VITO and Voxdale. Next ‘BlueSpace’ will launch the first open call for new incubation projects in May.

—–

Download this press release in pdf (English)
Download this press release in pdf (Dutch)

—–

Imec
Leading research and innovation hub in nano-electronics and digital technology

Verhaert
Leading provider of integrated product innovation, both broker and manager in ESA’s Technology Transfer Network

VITO
Flemish research organization in cleantech and sustainable development, including a unit specialized in remote sensing
remotesensing.vito.be

—–

Contact
Nicky Sterck, Communications at Verhaert
T +32 3 250 50 05 – nicky.sterck@verhaert.com

The post BlueSpace: new consortium to stimulate innovation appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post BlueSpace: new consortium to stimulate innovation appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

Being a part of the team

We notice that start-ups have a lot of internal knowledge and are very eager to learn. Furthermore they typically don’t have a lot of time and resources. To prepare their product idea for manufacturing and market launch, Minze Health was looking for a partner. The ideal collaboration would be one that focuses on consulting rather than execution. Minze involved Verhaert in the mechanical design of their Uroflowmeter. From the beginning Verhaert actively looked for tasks that could be taken up by the Minze team.

“We supported Minze in specific aspects they were less familiar with to speed up the development process. Time to market is a very important aspect when working with start-ups. This called for short and direct communication lines. Thanks to this close collaboration we noticed and pointed out possible risks which were out of the original project scope. This all happened in the sideline, but was greatly appreciated. It made us feel like we were a valuable part of the Minze team.” says Robrecht Van Velthoven, Consultant MechLab at Verhaert.

Mechanical design of the uroflowmeter

This year Minze Health will launch ‘Homeflow’: a solution to diagnose & monitor voiding disorders at home. Homeflow consists of multiple components: a wireless uroflowmeter, accessories (for men, women and children), a mobile app and an online platform. For the mechanical design of the uroflowmeter they needed external technical support.

“We always got important new insights during Verhaert meetings. The knowledge and experience of Verhaert related to mechanical design were a great addition to our own team’s skills.” says Jiri Vermeulen, co-founder of Minze.

As an ISO 13485 certified company with experience in the medical industry, Verhaert filled in the missing pieces of the puzzle. We analyzed the composition and usage of the uroflowmeter to understand the requirements of the housing.

Due to possible contact with urine, the uroflowmeter needs to be thoroughly cleaned. An aspect made even more difficult because of the sensors and electronics inside. The design therefore has to be waterproof and resistant to cleaning with chemicals at high temperatures.

We defined the product requirements document together. Verhaert rather had a supporting role and contributed with useful information from earlier projects. Finally, we optimized the design of the uroflowmeter for manufacturing: elements with high precision and a housing in one piece.

Minze, Health at Home

Minze Health is a ‘digital health’ company focusing on Internet connected medical devices for home. Their first product is ‘Homeflow’, a wireless reusable uroflowmeter that allows patients with voiding disorders to be diagnosed and monitored in their comfortable home environment. Minze Health launched Homeflow at the Medical Device fair Medica and was awarded by VOKA Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the ‘Most Promising Start-up of 2016’.

minzehealth.com

The post Successful projects with start-ups require closer collaboration appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.

The post Successful projects with start-ups require closer collaboration appeared first on Verhaert Masters in Innovation.