You are striving for cost reduction in your business processes? Towards a more future-proof business model? For a stronger position in the market? And you wonder whether this can be done in a sustainable way?
Then this workshop cycle is ideally suited for you. We inspire and support you to see and seize opportunities in your company and to take steps towards sustainability and business stability and growth. This requires different products, materials, services and business models. But how do you make this concrete and put it into practice?

The CIRCO track
LIOF and Rabobank, together with our partners of the SME Green Deal in Sittard-Geleen, are organizing this three-day workshop to get you started. The unique aspect of this program is that you will do this together with other companies from your region.
From everyone's own position in the chain and business case you gain knowledge of circular entrepreneurship and circular (re-)design of your product or service, but also think of re-use, reduce and repair for example.

Millions of pounds of sports materials end up in landfills every year. In addition to making sports facilities more sustainable, more attention is needed for circular sports materials. 

There are about 23,000 sports associations in the Netherlands with over 4 million members. All those associations annually consume hundreds of thousands of sports products such as field hockey sticks, tennis rackets, balls and nets. But club clothing and equipment for weekly gym visits also contribute substantially to material consumption and disposal. This can and should be much more sustainable.
The world of sports products thus offers enormous opportunities to develop and realize more sustainable products. There are great business opportunities there for many companies in our region. 

Think of new designs, new business models but also the application of new more sustainable materials and reduction of the use and consumption of materials in the production of sports materials. 
This applies both to companies that are already active in the sports materials chain and companies that are not yet active but have specific knowledge and experience with, for example, the application or production of new materials.

Do you want to play a role in the sustainability of sports materials? Then this workshop cycle is ideally suited for you. We inspire and support you to see and seize opportunities in your company and take steps towards sustainability and business stability and growth.

The CIRCO track
LIOF and Rabobank organize from CIRCO Hub Limburg together with Brightlands Sportinnovator Center and the national Sportinnovator this three-day workshop to help you on your way. The unique thing about this program is that you do it together with other companies. 
From your own position in the chain and from your own business case you gain knowledge of circular entrepreneurship and circular (re-)design of your product or service.

This three-day track starts on Tuesday, May 30 and is specifically intended for companies that are or want to be active in the sports materials industry and who strive for sustainable products and want to embed circularity in their business model. 

For SMEs, there is an attractive discount on the participation fee of 75%, which makes participation in the track only € 550. For that amount you can participate in the track with 2 to 4 employees of your company. The only condition is that you submit an application form with an extensive and clear motivation why you and your company want to participate.

You want to save energy and take the first steps in other areas of sustainability. Perhaps you do not know exactly where to start, you could use a push or you want to know what else you could do. In a Koploper project you work with a group of 8 to 15 SMEs from Limburg on sustainability and discover what this can deliver for your business. Think about reducing your energy consumption and CO2 footprint, communicating about sustainability and preparing for upcoming CSR reporting obligations.

The unique aspect of this project is that you will work both individually and together with the other participants on sustainable entrepreneurship. During a period of about 9 months, under expert guidance, you will gain a lot of inspiration and new insights through all the knowledge and tools you will receive from the project. You also learn a lot from your fellow Koplopers, as you share plans and results with each other during meetings and company visits.

Innovating in healthcare is complex, that much is obvious. There are many issues you have to deal with as a company in this field. Think of laws and regulations, reimbursements, high costs, and so on.
To deal with these issues requires knowledge and expertise, and as a company you do not (yet) always have this in-house.
External expertise is costly, sometimes hard to find and scattered so how nice would it be if all the expertise was gathered in one place? That place will be there in the fall: the Medical Devices masterclass.
 
What does it entail?
This masterclass consists of a series of five physical sessions in which you, as a (starting) entrepreneur, will be introduced to a number of important themes in the field of Medical Devices. You will also make the translation to your own company under the guidance of experts and together with other entrepreneurs. The master class will enable you to be well prepared for the hurdles to be taken on the road to the market.
 
Who is it intended for?
The session is intended for starting or existing Limburg companies that are developing an innovative medical product. That product may be a medical device, implant, diagnostic device or other medical development.
 
What else will it give you?
In addition to the substantive knowledge you gain, you also meet other entrepreneurs who are in a similar situation. Hearing their approach, knowledge and experience will also give you ideas and inspiration for your own approach.
You will also get to know the various partners from the Limburg entrepreneurial and medical ecosystem involved in the masterclass. Think Rabobank, the Brighlands campuses, Medace, Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Zuyd/EIZT and of course LIOF.

How can you participate?
If you want to participate in the master class, you can apply until June 2, 2023 at the latest by sending an email to René Kessen. He can also inform you about costs and other questions: rene.kessen@liof.nl.

As an organization, you are faced with many (disruptive) technological developments. Automation and digitalization are hitting hard. It is therefore important that as an organization you have insight into the individual technological innovations. The course 'Data Analytics & New Technologies for Professionals' pays attention to data analytics and the most important technological innovations (Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Blockchains). As an organization, how do you now concretely deal with these developments and translate them into practice?

In the Change Management Master Class, you learn what it takes to more successfully lead, guide and influence change in a complex environment. You learn to look at the changes in your organization from different perspectives. In addition, you learn new skills that give you more flexibility in the choices you make. This allows you to better adapt and respond to changing circumstances and different personalities.

In addition to the treatment of theory, during this Master Class there is plenty of room to share experiences and work with various solution approaches. During and between meetings, you will apply the learning points from the Masterclass directly to your own issues.

Design Thinking is a successful methodology for human-centered innovation to increase the added value of yourself, your department and your organization. You develop new skills that allow you to work more decisively and to get from idea to impact faster. Besides the treatment of the theory, in this Master Class you will mainly get to work in a very practical way. Using an innovation model based on a combination of Design Thinking and agile and lean innovation methodologies, you will go through all the steps to arrive at innovative solutions.