Altran Foundation Award stimulates worldwide innovation Overcoming social exclusion through scientific and In 1996 Altran, the European leader in innovation consultancy, launched the Altran Foundation for Innovation that awards technological innovation to help benefit the community. Each year in June, a special Foundation prize is awarded in a different category to searchers, research teams or project managers for a technological innovation on a specific theme. The 2005 award will reward the technological innovation that will help to overcome social disintegration and exclusion. This theme is a ‘hot’ issue in Europe, since at the Lisbon Council in March 2000, EU governments pledged to ‘make 26 Europe the most competitive and most dynamic knowledge-based economy by the year 2010’ and to fight against poverty as well as exclusion. For its 9th award, in 2005, the Altran Foundation for Innovation has chosen the theme ‘Overcoming social exclusion through scientific and technological innovation’. In order to make a chance to win the Award, the applicants must demonstrate that their projects comply with the four basic requirements of the Award. First of all, the project that is submitted should be useful to the general public and should have potential for short-term or medium-term application. The concrete results of it should be useful as universal as possible. Secondly, the project should highlight innovative technology either in its very principle or either in the way it is used. Thirdly, the project ought to be realistic from an economic point of view and it should generate jobs. Finally, the project has to be supported by enough research and studies as to demonstrate that it is technologically executable. Within one year after winning the Award, a considerable progress should be possible. Top-notch jury will choose winning project The Award candidates undergo a first pre-selection done by Altran consultants who separate the corn from the crazy. Eventually, 6 finalists will remain and these will be judged by a top-notch jury, consisting of six permanent members and six ‘temporary’ members. This year, the permanent members are assisted by - among others - former Belgian Prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene and Jean-<strong>Paul</strong> Philippot, CEO of the RTBF. Since the Altran Foundation strives for absolute innovation and originality, the Altran Foundation Award itself also needed to be innovative and original. As a matter of fact, the winner of the Award receives one year of technological advice offered by Altran, under the form of personalized assistance for the winning project or projects. Involving Altran’s European consultants and managers, this support covers all the areas of Altran know-how, in terms of research and scientific innovation: technologies development, project management, cost optimization, seeking of partners, marketing, communication, design, industrialization, etc. In a few words, it provides the Award win- technological innovation ner with all the expertise for his project to succeed, because the first thing a group of researchers has to do is overcome certain hurdles, in particular these, which require an external view of the market. A good example of the phenomenal expertise Altran can give is the winning project of 2003. The theme back then was ‘Technological innovation and young children’. The winner was doctor Pierre-Henri Benhamou who had developed an innovative, readyto-use and reliable standardized patch (the ‘diallertest’) that made it very easy for doctors and parents to trace food allergies of children. Food allergies are becoming more and more common and it is thought that 5 to 8% of children are concerned. After winning the Altran reward, doctor Pierre-Henri Benhamou received one year of technological Altran advice. The expertise given by the Altran consultants has been an optimization of the production process, an improvement in quality and efficiency of the procedure, the stakes linked to the patent, the design of the patch applicator and finally the look of the product. Thanks to the technological support afforded by Altran, the diallertest can already be found in the pharmacies one year before schedule. D.S. more info: www.altran.net , Magazine <strong>Alumni</strong> <strong>Vlerick</strong> Leuven Gent Management School, March 2005
<strong>Vlerick</strong> Management School Fortis Rotterdam Bulvano geeft creatieve vorm aan uw bedrijfsruimtes.We bieden pasklare kantooroplossingen die beantwoorden aan de behoeftes van uw medewerkers en het imago van uw bedrijf. Daarom analyseert Bulvano eerst grondig uw werkomgeving zowel bij nieuwbouw- of renovatieprojecten. Wenst u een nieuwe dimensie te geven aan de inrichting van uw bedrijfsruimtes, bel dan met Michel Adriaens, (<strong>Vlerick</strong> Alumnus KMO 95) BULVANO Koralenhoeve 20 Industriepark Kapelleveld 2160 Wommelgem Tel. 03 355 37 40 michel@bulvano.be www.bulvano.be Inkomhal Picanol Bedrijfsauditorium Etap Bulvano. Een creatieve invulling van uw bedrijfsruimte
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