Vlaamse Hogescholenraad – Council of Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts Blikopener: The solution that makes the difference between survival and success for small and medium sized organisations Just suppose for a moment that researchers somewhere already have the findings and the expertise you need to make your organisation successful, but that this knowledge is stacked away somewhere on the shelves of its scientific environment and has never been applied in real life so far? It only takes the right tool to unlock these scientific treasures. This tool is called ‘Blikopener’ – which means ‘can opener’ as wel as ‘eye opener’ in Dutch – and offers the perfect platform to make research results available for the work field.
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n the one hand the Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts have always been active in applied research, leading to useful findings for small and medium sized companies as well as social profit organisations. On the other hand those companies for a long time didn’t know how to obtain these hidden treasures. Entrepreneurs talked about it, researchers knew it, but they hardly succeeded in finding each other. That was the case until IDEA Consult conducted a survey in 2018. The results confirmed common knowledge: the two parties had to be brought together in a closer relationship. The only question left was: who was going to be the intermediate partner?
or a request for information to a real joint project. Although it is the organisation that chooses who to work with, the Blikopener staff sees to it that it remains a ‘co-story’, a story of collaboration and co-existence. Transparent communication, generating new ideas, collective involvement and the proof of concepts are key factors in this tale.
A true success, but not there yet Until today about five thousand smaller organisations have been able to profit from the existence of Blikopener. They were given solutions in domains as broad as Artificial Intelligence or Supply Chain Management and even social themes like Corporate Social Responsibility or Human Resources Management. By putting the demands of a company first, Blikopener succeeded in bringing expertise to the work field. Also helping Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts work together in favour of the needs of the requesting party is still a goal.
Single Point of contact For the Flemish government the answer to that question was quite obvious: Vlaamse Hogescholenraad, The Council of Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts, had always been the single point of contact concerning the needs and the motives of the Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts. So Vlaamse Hogescholenraad was best equipped for the challenge ahead: offering a platform where research results from the Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts could be made available to the best interest of companies and organisations.
This is a success already, but that doesn’t mean that the ultimate objectives have been reached. The Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts must be made aware that they can still improve and there are still domains of research left that haven’t been reached yet.
A story of collaboration and co-existence Acting as a catalyst
Blikopener brings together a commercial or social profit company and a University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Flanders with the solution for that specific organisation at hand. The contact between both parties can range from an exploratory encounter
© Vlaamse Hogescholenraad
Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts are designed to deliver practice-oriented research. They don’t have licenses or spin-off companies, but in a certain way this characteristic actually plays in their advantage. Their efforts and their expertise have the ability of not only saving many smaller companies and organisations, but also lifting them up to the next level. In that sense the double meaning of the Dutch word Blikopener serves its purpose: Blikopener comes in as an eye opener for companies and Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts as well as a can opener to unveil knowledge that has been put aside for much too long.
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Information: www.blikopener.vlaanderen
