Optimize logistics with AI-driven solutions

Digitization and AI are entering the logistics and mobility sector at a fast pace. The sector is under extreme pressure to speed up advances and prepare back office systems and mobile assets. To remain competitive, AI will play a major role in transforming the abilities of companies by using:

• Automated document processing
• Routing and supply chain optimization
• Truck, ship and car data
• Asset data and Physical Internet

Join the seminar to speed up your innovation in real-time decision taking and optimize logistics in the race for ultra-efficient logistics and fleet costs. After some in-depth case studies, you select one of the 4 topics above for a workshop session.

Program ‘AI solutions 2025’

18h00 – 19h00

Networking

Practical info

When? Wednesday 29 January 2020, from 14h till 19h.
Where? AMORAS (8th floor), The Beacon, Sint-Pietervliet 7, Antwerp

Partners

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Technology transfer in extreme conditions

Technologies developed for the space and fusion industry perform in extreme conditions. They combine innovative approaches to withstand magnetic fields, high heat, mechanical loading and more. To maximize the efficiency of investments in space and the potential of fusion technologies, Verhaert organizes a network event to promote these technologies for earthly applications. Eager to know more about technology transfer? Visit euro-fusion.org and esa.int.

Synergy between space and fusion technologies

The brokership within EUROfusion’s program is a great addition to Verhaert’s ESA Space Solutions Belgium activity, facilitating open innovation in high-tech product development. With demonstrator calls and new tools, we promote the use of space and fusion technologies in innovation projects throughout Europe. In need of technology? Verhaert is looking forward to help you with transferring space or fusion technology in the development of breakthrough projects.

Program

Practical info

When? Thursday 23 January 2019 from 13h till 19h.
Where? CoStation Brussels, Place Sainte-Gudule 5, 1000 Brussels

Partners

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Performance in extreme conditions

The technologies developed in Europe’s fusion research laboratories (EUROfusion) perform in extreme conditions. Therefore, they offer a wave of opportunities for companies that want to innovate in a multitude of fields: robotics, automated systems, smart materials, manufacturing and fastening methods, precision parts, software modelling, machine building, measuring techniques, diagnostics etc. Any conceivable application can make use of fusion technology. A few success stories to inspire you:

• Multispectral imaging to diagnose cancer in an early stage
• Complex software engineering to set up machine infrastructures
• Helicon plasma to revolutionize food packaging

Technology Transfer broker network

For the next 2 years, Verhaert Masters in Innovation joins the EUROfusion broker network promoting the use of fusion technology in everyday applications. Verhaert has been chosen as a broker because of its long-standing experience in space and technology transfer. There are very strong similarities between the types of technologies developed for the fusion and space industry, as they both have demanding applications where ultimate performances and reliability are required. Often the environment is extremely harsh and technologies for both fusion and space must reach a high technology readiness level.

During this webinar you’ll discover

• Which technologies does EUROfusion offer?
• How can these technologies boost your business?
• How does the Technology Transfer program work?
• How to get funding to implement one of the technologies?
• How do you get connected with your fusion broker?

Practical info

When? Friday 13 December 2019 at 14h.
How? You’ll find the link to the webinar in your registration mail.

Network event 23 January 2020

This webinar is a stepping stone for our interactive network event focusing on matchmaking and technology transfer from both space and fusion technology.

Eager to know more? Save the date! More information will follow soon.

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Absolute blood pressure through AI

The AI based technology using photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals can be used for long term monitoring of hypertension patients without the need of a sphygmomanometer. This enables new applications such as personalized drug dosage and the adaptation of the dosage to adequate levels determined on exact situationally established blood pressure measurements.

Starting today, Verhaert markets the first direct-to-consumer technology that enables companies and their customers to take an absolute blood pressure right from their finger, wrist, or upper arm, when they experience symptoms like a rapid or irregular heart beat.

Ann Van Mele, Sales Coordinator Smart Medical & Health

Verhaert’s AI team has worked with KU Leuven and UZ Leuven with the support of the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) over a number of years to develop, and clinically validate the technology. Medical Practitioners can now access data of patients more easily and in more natural situations, compared to the single, less frequent blood pressure measurement in the doctor’s cabinet. It allows improved monitoring of diseases such as hypertension and diabetes in a more meaningful way. This is a great example of how machine learning can extract valuable information from signals that may look uninteresting to the human eye.

Jochem Grietens, head of the Verhaert AILab

The technology combines feature based deep learning and featureless machine learning algorithms which result in a mean of 7 mm Hg of absolute error on the diastole and systolic blood pressure. Many people could benefit from this technology as the European Society of Cardiology states that, even in lower risk Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) populations, such as Belgium and Germany, many people risk dying of heart diseases within the next 10 years. To exemplify, non-smoking males between 55 and 60 with an average systolic blood pressure above 160 mm Hg are marked with a score of 5% to 10% (see graph below).

AI technology during the Medica fair

Are you interested in knowing more about our AI blood pressure technology? Meet the Verhaert team at Medica from 18 until 21 November 2019 at our booth in Hall 3 / E93. For more information on our presence at the medical fair, please visit the website.

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Innovation to tackle current societal challenges

Flemish Minister of Innovation Hilde Crevits visited Verhaert’s Innovation Day as the first in a series of company visits. She said the following on the role of the government on innovation:

The government should create a healthy environment to enable innovation. This does not just mean subsidizing it, but also means creating an environment of collaboration and communication between government and industry. We need to join forces to tackle our current challenges and changes, and most importantly when it comes to climate change and Artificial Intelligence.

Hilde Crevits, Flemish Minister of Innovation

50 years of pioneering innovation

50 years is a bizarre age for people, and that’s also the case for a company. It’s an age to celebrate, but it also sparks reflection on past years. So this year, we celebrate our 50th anniversary, but also use this milestone to reflect on past accomplishments and future prospects to ensure continuous innovation.

Koen Verhaert, CEO Verhaert Masters in Innovation

Verhaert was founded in 1969 during a time of revolution and innovation: we went to the moon, the Concorde took its first flight, Woodstock took place, and in Belgium the driver’s license, VAT and postal code were introduced. Since then a lot has changed and continues to change. Those changes and resulting challenges characterize the framework of this Innovation Day’s lectures.

Innovation in perspective in 5 tracks

The Innovation Day is an annual event with 16 lectures in 5 tracks to share insights on innovation management, product development and technology to guide the innovation agenda.

The first track, called MyFutureProduct, focused on what future products will look like. Specifically, the lectures discussed the changes in value drivers in product development and future products, such as customer needs and companies ambitions. Another mayor change was the introduction of Artificial Intelligence and digitalization. Today, it can no longer be considered a feature in products, it’s the core. The last of these lectures examined how mature businesses can continue innovating.

MyInnovationFactory was the second track and concentrated on the organization of innovation and how to manage the process. Innovation often means change and that change is not always easy. These lectures considered the following ways to guide innovation: the importance of using the right KPI’s, a quality management system and finding the adequate approach on different innovation risks.

The lectures in Track 3, MyStartUp, examined how start-ups work, how to interact with them and how to implement the start-up management in your (mature) company. Start-ups are a relatively new way of organizing innovation and companies need those start-ups to reach innovation ambitions. Furthermore, it introduced the concept pretotyping, prototyping in an early stage to simulate marketing action and learn from it.

The fourth track, called MyFutureGovernment, discussed the crucial role of the government in innovation and the necessity to set-up systems to interact between government and industry to encourage innovation. Society changes constantly and both government and industry need to adapt to that. Furthermore, governmental innovation has dual ambitions: on the one hand, it needs to solve the specific problem or need, and on the other it has to create a knowledge chain and industry activity derived from it.

The lectures in Track 5, MyTechnology, stressed the difference between product and technology development and the need to not see technology as an objective, but as an enabler. Today, humanoid and geospatial technologies are frequently used in everyday products, something that would have seemed absurd not too long ago. Furthermore, these lectures focused on Advanced Human Interfaces and software languages, and the importance of choosing the right one.

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Partnership retaining independent activity

Verhaert and BEACON enter an agreement whereby Verhaert acquires the shares of BEACON. Operationally, however, BEACON will retain its independent activity under the current management.

In recent years, BEACON’s management has developed a fantastic team of project managers who have gained great expertise in innovation and product development. As a result, they have acquired a unique position on the Dutch market. Moreover, they are perfectly connected to the entire Dutch innovation ecosystem. A local project management is crucial to put our knowledge and skills in strategic, digital and product innovation, as well as our technology portfolio at the service of our Dutch customers. This cooperation lays the foundation for this. I look forward to working with the management of BEACON, Tom Stefels and Quintijn Innikel, to further expand this in the years to come.

Koen Verhaert, CEO Verhaert Masters in Innovation

Supporting companies with innovation projects

Verhaert Masters in Innovation, a leading innovation service provider from the Antwerp region (Belgium), and BEACON, a specialist in the management of innovation projects from Utrecht (the Netherlands), both work for the crown of the industry as well as innovative start-ups and scale-ups. The customers of Verhaert and BEACON have great confidence in finding an answer to their challenges in the field of innovation. Their client portfolio includes companies such as Friesland Campina, Unilever, Atag, Gazelle, Eneco, Atlas Copco, Barco, Engie, ESA and Nestlé.

Together with our team, we have enjoyed developing BEACON over the past 15 years into what it is today: a leading partner in innovation management. It is increasingly important to properly organize the innovation in the market. That’s why our goal was to further grow our services and team in the future. We had the choice to do this on our own, or to join a credible, professional player, and chose the latter. We are very happy with Verhaert as a partner because of their size and their versatile profile. Both professionally and personally, we have an excellent connection. We look forward with confidence to the further growth of the teams of BEACON and Verhaert in the coming years.

Quintijn Innikel and Tom Stefels, BEACON management.

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AI driven robots for neurosurgery

With the VLAIO research grant, Verhaert is launching a new technology platform, allowing Flemish companies to accelerate development in AI-driven robot systems. This way Verhaert helps companies to cost-efficiently use state-of-the-art technologies for new products and service.

Initially, Verhaert focusses on developing a demonstrator for neurosurgical procedures. The AI-driven robot uses MRI and CT images to increase the precision of the robot to <1 mm. This is necessary to enable robotic surgery for interventions that cannot be performed with the current technology.

Other partners are also involved in developing this demonstrator: the UZ-VUB for the supply of medical images and the IMEC research institute for pre- and intraoperative image processing. Moreover, the new technology is widely applicable in other medical sectors such as eye surgery, gynecology and orthopedics. AI-driven robot systems have a wide range of applications, which means that they will enter far beyond the medical sector as well.

Extending expertise in AI and robotics

Verhaert wants to strengthen its position as a progressive innovation company and play an important role in the rapidly growing robot market. “We are very pleased to receive support from VLAIO for this,” confirms Ann Van Mele, Sales Coordinator Smart Medical & Health,  “We look forward to further extend our expertise in AI and robotics and help medical companies applying robot technology to groundbreaking products or services.”

Laurent Houtsaeger, technical coordinator, is also enthusiastic: “We want to position ourselves as the first point of contact to support companies in the development of AI-driven robot systems. With the support of VLAIO we can greatly increase our efforts, so that we can maintain that position for years to come.”

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The library of podcasts is constantly growing and there’s something for everyone about almost every subject. Listen to them in the car or train, while exercising or even while cleaning up. Here’s a selection of our consultants’ favorite podcasts on innovation, technology and business.

Soon Verhaert will launch its own first podcast. An interesting interview with Zane Smilga, coordinator OpenLab, about our acceleration and incubation programs for start-ups using space related technologies like Earth Observation, remote sensing …

Beware, it’s addictive.

1. Nerdland
Monthly podcast with an overview and discussion of the science and technology news of the past month.

2. American innovations
DNA science. Artificial intelligence. Smartphones and 3D printers. Science and technology have transformed the world we live in. But how did we get here? American Innovations uses immersive scenes to tell the stories of the scientists, engineers, and ordinary people behind the greatest discoveries of the past century.

3. Business Wars
Business Wars gives you the story of what drives companies and their leaders, inventors, investors and executives to new heights.

4. Talking machines
Talking Machines is your window into the world of machine learning: clear conversations with experts in the field, insightful discussions of industry news, and useful answers to your questions. Machine learning is changing the questions we can ask of the world around us, here we explore how to ask the best questions and what to do with the answers.

5. Killer innovations
An award-winning podcast exploring broader aspects of innovation in a company context. Let’s look at the innovations that are changing our lives and how their innovators used creativity and design to take their raw idea and create game-changing products or services.

6. Artificial Intelligence podcast with Lex Fridman
Conversations about the nature of intelligence, science, and technology (at MIT and beyond) from the perspective of deep learning, robotics, AI, AGI, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, economics, physics, mathematics, and more.

7. Data Science Skeptic
Interviews and discussion of topics related to data science, statistics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and the like, all from the perspective of applying critical thinking and the scientific method to evaluate the veracity of claims and efficacy of approaches.

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The shipping industry is changing course thanks to technological innovations

Program ‘Maritime solutions 2020’

Download the program as pdf.

Practical info

When? Thursday 24 October, from 16h till 19h.
Where? The Beacon, Sint-Pietervliet 7, Antwerp

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Innovation in perspective

How did the innovation landscape change? What did we learn from the past and what are the trends towards a better future? With 16 inspiring lectures in 5 tracks, Verhaert wants to encourage professionals from different sectors to innovate.

1. MyFutureProduct – New value creation platforms

Products of the ’60s were very much about hardware design for new industrial production processes. What will future products look like? How do you make your propositions future proof? Let’s explore a generic blue print for future proof products and services.

2. MyInnovationFactory – Organizing innovation in an increasing complex world

A few decades ago breakthrough innovation came from highly confidential corporate labs and rigid organizations. Today start-ups are setting the new standards and agile seems to be the way to do. Find the building blocks for your future innovation factory.

3. MyStartUp – Changing the entrepreneurial landscape

San Francisco was the capital of the late sixties hippie movement. The following decades Silicon Valley became the world’s largest hot spot for technology, innovation and start-ups. What can we learn from Silicon Valley to start your own future start-up.

4. MyFutureGovernment – The impact of the government on innovation

The club of Rome questioned our volume driven industrial model 50 years ago, and pushed towards a more sustainable vision. Critics of today pinpoint the potential impact of new technologies and the need for differentiated local actions. Explore how governments can accelerate innovation to the best of society.

5. MyTechnology – How new are new technologies?

New technologies and innovation have been driven by science since the ’60s. The latest technologies of today are often a result of connecting science domains. This requires another approach on technology forecasting, scouting and transfer. Learn more about this fresh perspective based on 4 technology domains.

Also guest speakers from Möbius Business Redesign and DEME explain how they create an innovation culture as an organization. The Innovation Day is therefore a perfect opportunity to meet other innovation professionals and learn from their insights. Register quickly, the places are limited.

50 years pioneering innovation

Since 1969, Verhaert Masters in Innovation has pioneered the product innovation business. The integral service provider in product development helps companies and entrepreneurs to develop and implement successful innovation projects. Together with their customers, they develop new breakthrough products, services and businesses in an integrated way.

Verhaert can look back on a rich history in innovation. A history in which they developed a unique organization and corporate culture. During the annual conference Innovation Day, Verhaert wants to share insights, best practices, tools, cases and concepts on product, business and technology innovation.

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