TCBL HANDBOOKS
ADVISORS GUIDE 2018 EDITION
Co-funded by Horizon 2020
TCBL 646133 – HANDBOOK RELEASED AS ANNEX I TO D2.5 (TASK 2.3) 30 June 2018
INTRODUCTION This Guidebook presents an updated definition of the role of Advisors in TCBL1 and specifies what services they offer to the TCBL ecosystem, the benefits received, and the means for becoming an Advisor. In addition, we present the first concrete service offered by Advisors to new TCBL Associates: the Welcome Service. Advisors play an important role in the TCBL ecosystem in that they provide the human connection between the open-ended research agendas of the TCBL Business Labs, ongoing Business Pilots, and the range of Open Platform Services on the one hand, and the specific needs of TCBL Associates and the T&C industry in general on the other. In parallel with their consultancy role, they also feed the TCBL Knowledge Spaces with publications (guidebooks such as this one and articles in the TCBL_Zine) as well as materials produced from presentations and activities at the yearly #TCBL events. This guidebook describes how Advisors interact with the other roles in the TCBL ecosystem, as well as the facilities provided to Advisors by the TCBL Open Platform. In addition, it describes the mechanism for becoming an Advisor, which is based on an objective system of points assigned for the different activities the role entails. Finally, it describes the Welcome Service through which Advisors help integrate new TCBL Associates into ecosystem activities and services. This guidebook is intended for three main types of reader: • • •
Current, potential and future Advisors interested in better understanding their role and how they can make the best use of the opportunities that TCBL offers them. Advisors currently part of the EU project partnership interested in how this role might shape their continued participation after EU funding. Prospective clients interested in interacting with Advisors and eventually purchasing their services – notably TCBL Associates.
1
The first edition of this Guidebook was published in November 2017 and is available at: https://issuu.com/tcbl/docs/associate_20advisors_20guide?e=30434928/55266271
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1.
WHAT IS AN ADVISOR AND WHAT DOES S/HE DO?
While interaction in TCBL is generally carried out among companies and institutions, there is also a very strong role for individual expertise. Names for this abound in the real world, including “local expert”, “animator”, “team leader”, “innovation manager”, “mentor”, “knowledge manager”, “orchestrator”, “facilitator”, “innovation auditor”, “innovation catalyst”, etc. In TCBL, we like to keep it simple: we just call them Advisors. Advisors can be acting as professional consultants, working for one of the EU project’s partner organisations, or involved in a TCBL Associate structure such as a Lab, an Enterprise or a Service Provider. The main difference is that as an Advisor, they put their personal knowledge and experience to work.
DEFINITION An Advisor in TCBL is defined as an individual that holds knowledge relevant to business model innovation in the T&C sector and exchanges that knowledge with actors in the TCBL ecosystem, in accordance with the TCBL principles. TCBL Advisors play an active role in the TCBL innovation ecosystem and share its values and principles. The more an Advisor contributes to the community and its platforms and events, the more likely an Advisor will be contacted by a TCBL Business Lab or Associate for professional services. Today, TCBL Advisors include the following as examples: -
A business development consultant specialised in garment manufacturing A researcher certifying dyeing processes A tailor with centuries-old knowledge for cutting men’s suits An expert in organic farming techniques for cotton A consultant in ICT services for supply chain management / transparency
ADVISORS IN THE TCBL ECOSYSTEM The position of Advisors in the TCBL ecosystem is shown below:
The main ecosystem roles, beyond the Advisors, are as follows:
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs •
•
• •
Business Labs are the innovation drivers of the ecosystem; they interact with citizens, businesses and research communities at the local level, while providing value to the broader TCBL community in collaboration with other Labs in the form of Lab Projects and Services. TCBL Associates are businesses operating directly or indirectly in the Textile & Clothing sector; they either joined TCBL in the past Calls (2016-18) or will be signing up through the rolling Calls on the Thela platform (https://thela.cleviria.it/) that will be operational from September 2018;2 TCBL Associates explore new business models in Business Cases and interact with other Associates and TCBL ecosystem roles in more complex Business Pilots.3 Service Providers are those who integrate their platforms into the Business Services on the TCBL Open Platform. TCBL Project Partners manage the dynamics of business model innovation and the ecosystem overall, their role of guidance and brand management will be subsumed by the governance structure for the TCBL Umbrella Level that will take over as of end June 2019.
Advisors can be working as part of the TCBL partnership or external to it, but they all adhere to the common TCBL principles applied to the Advisor role, as follows: TCBL Principle
Advisors
curiosity
TCBL Advisors engage in innovation research and support others in doing so.
viability
Advisor activities need to support the business viability of clients as a key objective.
durability
Advisors shall always highlight the environmental implications of what they propose to businesses.
multiplicity
Advisors are open to multi-disciplinary interaction and the exchange of multiple viewpoints.
openness
Advisors are open to collaboration with others for joint publications, research projects, etc.
respect
Advisors respect authors’ rights and always cite the source of ideas.
responsibility
Advisors provide dependable services to businesses, aware of the business implications of their consultancy.
ADVISORS’ CONTRIBUTION TO THE TCBL ECOSYSTEM The TCBL community, facilitated by Advisors, adds to the value of the knowledge that each stakeholder brings to the project and can generate even more economical value for its members through interaction, sharing and collaboration, for instance by reducing costs, optimizing 2
The current set of 227 TCBL Associates have adhered through yearly Calls whose procedure has evolved with each edition in order to define the system that will be operational for the future. 3
A TCBL Associate can also play the role of Lab or Service Provider and may or may not include Advisors in its staff. On the contrary, Labs, Associates and Service Providers are not required to be Associates.
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
processes or otherwise innovating as a consequence of knowledge exchange. The dynamic learning aspects of the TCBL Knowledge Spaces, populated with relevant content and animated by the Advisors, help T&C businesses and ecosystems to stay competitive or become more competitive in today’s global market. Advisors thus add value not only from their own expertise, but also by encouraging stakeholders to share materials, content and discussions relevant to supporting business model innovation in the T&C sector. The way Advisors contribute to the other roles in the TCBL ecosystem is shown in the following diagram:
More specifically: •
•
•
•
TCBL Associates will benefit from Advisors’ capacity to translate the innovation impulses coming from Labs to the specific needs of their daily operations, supporting their participation in Business Pilot activities. Advisors may support the launch or development of a new Business Lab, and often collaborate in the delivery of Lab Projects and Services. In addition, Advisors can help Labs identify research areas of relevance to T&C businesses. Advisors can advise Service Providers on how to make their platforms and services more useful to Business Labs and TCBL Associates, and promote the uptake of their services across the TCBL ecosystem. Advisors contribute significantly to the TCBL Level through participation in the yearly #TCBL events as well as the production of content for the Knowledge Spaces: Zine articles, Guidebooks, videos, etc.
ADVISORS’ ADDED VALUE FROM ECOSYSTEM PARTICIPATION Advisors in TCBL are part of an innovation ecosystem based on the collaborative development of new business models and are thus better placed to take the lead in tracking or making changes in their areas, or spotting ways to exploit those changes, or codifying and disseminating good practice as master performers, subject matter experts, team leaders and/or mentors. This added value comes from interaction with each of the ecosystem roles, as shown below:
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
More specifically: •
•
•
•
TCBL Associates will generally be an important source of income for Advisors, but also provide a unique opportunity to apply state-of-the-art methodologies and insights to concrete cases of business model innovation in the T&C sector. Interaction with Business Labs immerses Advisors in the latest trends and trajectories driving innovation in the T&C sector, in a range of aspects from new materials to social innovation. Service Providers offer services that can often be used to enhance Advisors’ activity in a back-office function. In addition, Advisors may enter into specific marketing agreements or provide consultancy for service development. The TCBL Umbrella Level benefits Advisors with a value-based innovation brand, while above all providing a range of platforms giving visibility to Advisors’ work and scientific production, including the Zine, TCBL publications, and the #TCBL events.
ADVISORS’ ADDED VALUE FROM COMMUNITY P ARTICIPATION Finally, Advisors can benefit significantly from collaboration with other Advisors within the TCBL community, allowing them to refine their expertise in more areas and collaborate with more people, with a tutoring, orchestrating, guiding or animating dimension at the forefront of their areas of expertise. The main benefits here are shown below:
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
More specifically: •
• • •
Advisors can easily form international, multi-disciplinary collaborations both to carry forward research agendas through the Business Labs and to address concrete business innovation needs with TCBL Associates. The TCBL Open Platform enables an agile response to business needs, with the tools for flexible workgroup formation and support. The TCBL Knowledge Spaces provide different types of opportunity for collaborative publications. The point system for assignment of Advisor roles dynamically provides visibility of professional expertise to a select business community.
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2.
TOOLS AND FACILITIES FOR ADVISORS IN TCBL
KNOWLEDGE SPACES One of the main areas of the TCBL Open Platform of interest to Advisors is the Knowledge Spaces, the name used to collectively refer to the different ways that TCBL publishes and shares knowledge. Currently, the TCBL Knowledge Spaces use three channels: the TCBL Zine website, issuu.com for publications and guidebooks, and a YouTube channel for results of the yearly #TCBL events. TCBL_Z INE The TCBL Zine is a special publication space managed by TCBL Advisors, with its own Editorial Board and publications of thematically relevant Special Issues, each of which includes Guest Editors and an issue-specific Editorial Board. Articles and content produced to date are accessible through the Zine’s special Tag Cloud at: https://zine.tcbl.eu/tag-cloud/
The Zine platform focuses on quality content selected from the overall production in TCBL and highlights the work of the Advisor community. These are offered a personal profile page (example shown) and the opportunity to animate discussion groups on topics of specific interest to TCBL. GUIDEBOOKS TCBL also regularly publishes a range of guidebooks targeting different needs and audiences, of which this guide is an example. To date, these are generally produced by project partners as a part of the EU’s reporting requirements, but they also include Case Studies, learning material and other publications that may be produced as part of Advisors’ activities and shared with the TCBL community. Currently Guidebooks are published on the TCBL account at issuu.com, organised by issuu stacks: https://issuu.com/tcbl/stacks #TCBL This is the yearly event of the TCBL community, offering a range of knowledge interaction modules (conference, TEDx-style, workshops, factory visits, etc.) covering several days. Advisors can participate in the scientific coordination as well as deliver presentations and coordinate or host events, workshops, training sessions, and so forth.
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
#TCBL is designed as both a must-attend event and also a generator of lasting material, primarily videos of different level and quality. These are in turn published on the TCBL YouTube channel, organised by YouTube playlists: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZcpRQi7vjIxuq50a-8KOxA/playlists
THE TCBL OPEN PLATFORM In addition to the publishing platforms specifically structured for TCBL Advisors, the TCBL Open Platform offers a range of facilities equally of interest. The main website at https://tcbl.eu/ presents the TCBL community and offers services such as the discussion forum, recent activity and events pages, and information on the yearly #TCBL events. Linked to the main website is the Labs platform at https://labs.tcbl.eu/ highlighting the network of Business Labs and their events, projects and activities. The TCBL Open Platform is also characterised by a series of ‘behind the scenes’ cloud services that can be of specific interest to Advisors. In particular, the cross-platform gamification engine built on the shared Activity Log will be used to automatically govern the point system for selection of Advisors in the future. TCBL BUSINESS SERVICES The TCBL Open Platform is characterized by its ‘Login with TCBL’ facility (technically known as Single Sign On or SSO), which allows platform users to access a range of services with a single login. This makes it easy for Associate Service Providers to cluster their platforms together as a collective service offer for the TCBL community. Services that have joined the SSO of particular interest to Advisors include: •
• •
Thela, is the supply chain management platform for monitoring compliance with social and environmental standards that is used for processing applications for new TCBL Associates and for the Welcome Service described in section 4 of this guidebook: https://thela.cleviria.it/ Wave, a platform for idea exchange and development promoting TCBL Startups: http://wave.consorzioarca.it/ Sqetch, a matchmaking platform linking brands and designers with T&C manufacturers and producers: https://sqetch.co/
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3. BECOMING (AND STAYING) A TCBL ADVISOR MERIT-BASED SELECTION The selection of TCBL Advisors is based on empirical evidence of actions related to the Advisor role as defined above: participation at a conference session, helping to set up a Lab, coordinating a Zine special issue, development of a Business Case, etc. We agree on a system for assigning points to each of these actions – points which remain valid for a given period of time – such that for a given period, the label of Advisor is assigned to those having earned the highest scores. The selection criteria are divided into two equally weighted sections: contributions to the Knowledge Spaces and participation in TCBL innovation services and activities. CONTRIBUTION TO THE TCBL KNOWLEDGE SPACES This is core to the activity of Advisors in TCBL, and is divided into three areas, each with equal weighting: •
• •
Participation in #TCBL, including the scientific committee or hosting organisation or participation as a speaker or coordinator in one of the main sessions, i.e. Talk, Live, Jam, etc. Contribution to the production of TCBL Guidebooks, authoring or co-authoring one or more guides, case studies, etc. Contribution to the TCBL Zine, with the editorial board, contributing to a special edition Call for Papers or as a published issue as a Guest Editor, active Editorial Board member, or author of one or more articles.
PARTICIPATION IN TCBL INNOVATION SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES This is the also central to the activity of Advisors, applying their expertise to the benefit of innovation processes. This is divided into two areas, each with an equal weighting. • • •
Contribution to Business Labs, by coordinating or creating a Lab or through active participation in Lab Projects and Services. Support to the participation of TCBL Associates in the Business Pilots. Engagement in activities related to the TCBL Open Platform and the engagement of Service Providers.
LISTING OF TCBL ADVISORS 2018 Applying the point system using the above criteria to all of those involved in one or more of the above activities, we have generated a list of the 30 top-scoring Advisors. Those external to the TCBL project partnership are indicated with an asterisk. Name Athanase Contargyris Besnik Mehmeti Bill Macbeth Caterina Ailiesei Cecilia Raspanti Corrado de Castro Danièle Clutier Darko Fercej Dieter Stellmach
City/Region Athens Prato Huddersfield Iasi Amsterdam Prato Paris Maribor Stuttgart
MS EL IT UK RO NL IT FR SI DE
Description Business development, textiles Textile industry Textile innovation Garment production Innovation labs Supply chain management Fashion markets and marketing Innovation pilots Knowledge management, Industry 4.0 10
Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
Name Filippo Guarini* Fiori Zafeiropoulòou* Francesca Rulli* Francesco Bolli* Francesco Molinari Frédérique Thureau Fridolin Wild George Tsiakiris* Ista Boszhard Jesse Marsh Kerstin Junge Lorena Vidas Luca Leonardi Maria Adele Cipolla Michele Osella Paolo Guarnieri Richard Axe Ruth Farrell Silvia Pavlidou Takis Lybereas Wouter de Roy van Zuidewijn
City/Region Prato Athens Prato Prato Massa Carrara Paris Oxford Athens Amsterdam Palermo London Prato Palermo Palermo Turin Prato Huddersfield Huddersfield Athens Athens Amsterdam
MS IT EL IT IT IT FR UK EL NL IT UK IT IT SI IT IT UK UK EL EL NL
Description Textile museum management Social fashion enterprise Eco-sustainable Production Heritage communication Industrial innovation policy Fashion markets and marketing Advanced technologies Silk production Innovation labs Innovation management Evaluation Project management Innovation management Independent designers-producers Business and value modelling Eco-sustainable Production Textile innovation Textile innovation Materials characteristics Clothing industry Matchmaking technologies
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4.
THE TCBL WELCOME SERVICE
The Welcome Service described below is intended to be a paid-for service delivered by Advisors and required for those applying to become TCBL Associates starting in July 2019. The post-project scenario is as follows: 1. A company who wants to become a TCBL Associate registers using the form on the TCBL website and compiles the TCBL Checklist on Thela. 2. According to the interests expressed in the “Added Value” section (i.e. interest in specific Business Pilots, Lab Projects or Services, or Open Platform Services), TCBL will select 3 Advisors to propose for the Welcome Service. The short-listed Advisors all come from different territories than the applicant, in order to promote international networking. 3. The candidate company must select one of these three and pay the Associate for the Welcome Service (probably in the range of € 500 - € 1.000) to complete the procedure for qualification. Once agreed, the Advisor delivers the Welcome Service as described below. For the 70 new Associates from the 2018 Call, we will test this service for free and at the same time gather feedback and refine the method. A similar approach will be tested with those applying for the rolling Call starting in September 2018. These phases will be vital to fine tune the value proposition to real market needs. Then we will go for the paid service starting in July 2019. Of course, in this testing phase, we cannot receive money for this service, since it is being covered by EU funding. Two major differences thus apply: 1. Rather than propose 3 candidates, we will assign one. 2. We will use only Advisors whose time is paid for by a TCBL partner. In the following, we first present guidelines describing the steps Advisors must take for service delivery. We then provide suggestions to TCBL Associates receiving the service.
4.1
ADVISOR GUIDELINES
This section is dedicated to Advisors, providing guidelines on how to deliver the Welcome Service. STEP 1: PREPARE A TCBL Advisor must first do three things before being able to deliver the Welcome Service. •
Register on Thela as a TCBL Collaborator In order to access Associates’ TCBL Checklists and interact with applicants, all Advisors must be registered on the Thela platform with the role of TCBL Collaborator, following the instructions in the “Thela for Advisors” guidelines. 4
•
Update Profile Information As an Advisor, the companies you deal with should be able to see your personal profile on different TCBL platforms. In addition, by familiarizing yourself with the procedure for updating your information on the different TCBL services, you’ll also be able to provide support to Associates in doing the same for themselves.
4
Available at: link
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
First, check your profile on the SSO service. Login to the main TCBL website, click on your name to the upper right, and then click on Manage Profile. There you can add a profile photo and a few lines about yourself. In addition, if you want to be an Advisor in the future you will need to check the box allowing Activity Logging. You should also tick the box to receive the newsletter so you will be up to date on developments in TCBL. Then click “Update” below. Next, make sure the profile information about you and your company is as complete as possible on Thela. Go to Settings under the main menu and then select Profile for your personal information (photo, address, etc.). To update your company information, go to Network and select your company: it will appear next to TCBL (which is listed as a company you work for) if you’ve registered previously. Then select “View Vital Statistics”. If you need to add your company, click first on “Create New” (for this you’ll need to ask for a Company PIN). Keep in mind that all new TCBL Associates will have already registered their company (as a TCBL Supplier) using the facility set up on the TCBL website for the Call. The most important place for your profile information as an Advisor is on the _zine platform. Log in using SSO (Login with Open ID Connect), click on your name to the upper right, and select “Edit my profile”. There you can upload a photo, provide a short biography, and complete the URLs for your website and other social media profiles. Finally, if you are responsible for a Lab, a Lab Project and/or a Business Pilot, check the relevant pages to make sure they are complete and up to date. •
Get Familiar with All of TCBL You are assigned to TCBL Associates according to one of your main areas of interest, but they will also probably be interested in other TCBL services as well. Become familiar with all of the TCBL platforms and services as well as on-going Lab Projects and Business Pilots. Make sure you know who the contact person is for each of these.
STEP 2: CONTACT The next step consists in making contact with your TCBL Associates and accompanying their integration into the TCBL ecosystem. •
Check the List First, check the list of Associate assignments and see which Associates you have been assigned to. You may want to make contact with the local TCBL partner to see if the Associate has come into the network direct contact, social media or some other way.
•
Review the Questionnaire Next, you need to analyse the TCBL Checklist questionnaire that your Associate compiled on Thela. To do this, Login to Thela with SSO, click on “Results” from the main menu, and find your Associate in the list (or use the search function). With the Associate’s name highlighted in Blue, click on “Open” to the top right. From there, you can navigate the various responses (be sure to download the CV or company profile in question 5) or download the entire Checklist as an Excel or pdf using the top menu. The first thing to do in reading the Checklist responses is to identify the expectations and interests of each TCBL Associate and see how you can support them in joining up to on-going innovation activities. This may for instance also mean identifying a nearby
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
TCBL partner or Business Lab you can connect them with. If they have shown interest in all activities, maybe you can discuss with them their priorities or where to start. If your Associate did not complete the application on Thela (some sent a pdf or Excel sheet), then you can still evaluate their answers but you’ll also need to help them sign up to Thela if they have not already done so – check first to see if they appear with status “assigned” – and transfer their answers into the on-line system. A second aspect will probably involve upgrading their Checklist score. All Associates have been accepted because they have been deemed worthy of the label, even though some may currently have responses that are under threshold. 5 This is often the case for the third section on Coherence, where the terms used for the TCBL principles and how they apply are not always clear. It may also be that some further explanation is required, for instance on the Business Pilots, Lab Projects, or Business Services. Do not use the “Send Back to Compiler” function yet; wait until you have discussed directly and agreed on the steps to take. On the basis of these factors, you should be able to make a list of the topics to be covered in your first call (or email if you prefer). •
Make Contact You’re now ready to propose a contact with your Associate, who may prefer Skype or email, the latter especially if they don’t have a good command of English. You may also wish to involve the local TCBL partner, if available, to help with communication. You’ll have to see according to expectations how many calls or mails will be required until your new Associate feels comfortable with their engagement in TCBL. Make sure you emphasize that the new Associate is welcome to join the community and any of the ongoing initiatives. They may expect you to “tell them what to do” but you should encourage them to explore and take their own initiative as much as possible. The first step is to discuss their answers to the Checklist and possible changes to make to upgrade their score. Once you agree on a strategy, you’ll need to go back to the questionnaire on Thela and click “Send back to compiler”; listing the points agreed to as a reminder. As you go through the other points on your agenda, try to grasp an understanding of their perceptions of TCBL and expectations on the services offered (including how much it should cost). Take note of these points and feed them back to the project, as this will form a basis for our final round of service definition. Try to agree a plan for the steps forward with your Associate and take note of the promises you make (meetings, emails, introductions, etc.). As you do so, think yourself about what kind of service you are offering, how much it’s costing you, and how the service process could be better supported and more efficient. In particular, try to understand if there’s a clear boundary to what the Welcome Service should offer and how we can properly communicate that to new Associates in the future.
5
See “Thela for Advisors” for further details.
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STEP 3: FOLLOW UP Once you’ve concluded your contact phase, make sure that the reciprocal commitments you’ve made have been honoured, and in particular: •
•
If you’ve agreed that the Checklist questionnaire is to be modified, make sure your Associate re-submits (checking Completed again) before you close down the Welcome Service. If you’ve put them in contact with one or more TCBL initiatives, check to be sure that the partner responsible has replied to the requests made.
Finally, you’ll probably have suggested the Associate become involved in a project or service you yourself are leading. In that case, you’ll be in contact over time. Make sure however that you draw the line between when the Welcome Service ends and when actual community engagement begins. As the very last step, make a note of your service delivery experience and any points you think can be relevant to an improved definition of the TCBL offer or the Welcome Service itself. Your work as an Advisor is essential for us to keep in touch with our users and their expectations.
4.2
GUIDELINES FOR TCBL ASSOCIATES
Until end 2018 and likely through June 2019, the Welcome Service will be provided to TCBL Associates in the following manner: • •
• •
TCBL Associates entering through the 2018 Call (using the Thela Checklist) are automatically assigned one Advisor who will deliver the service to them. TCBL Associates from the 2016 and 2017 Calls (including those upgraded as of 2018) can avail of the Welcome Service if they so desire. This will mean that they will need to register on Thela and complete the Checklist like the more recent Associates, to take advantage of the new services offered. Those interested should write to tcbl@comune.prato.it. TCBL Associates signing up through the open rolling Call to be launched in September 2018 will also be automatically assigned one Advisor, until end June 2019. Starting in July 2019, those signing up through the open rolling Call will be offered a short list of three Advisors. They will be required to select one of these for the Welcome Service, which will be paid for in lieu of an entry fee to the TCBL network.
MAKING THE MOST OF THE W ELCOME SERVICE Especially in this experimental phase until end June 2019, the TCBL Welcome Service is aiming to maximise the benefit to TCBL Associates from participation in the TCBL ecosystem. To get the most out of this service, we suggest you take the following points into consideration. 1. Get to know your Advisor. We have tried to match your Advisor to the interests you have expressed, but that’s only a starting point for getting to know them. Check out their profiles on the TCBL website and the _zine, see what articles they have authored, etc. You can also ask them directly what kinds of activities they are involved in and what their specialisation is. 2. Discuss your Checklist together. The purpose of the TCBL Checklist is to reflect your experience, interests and values to help others in the TCBL community interact with you in a more effective way. Your 15
Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
Advisor for the Welcome service will help you to make your Checklist better express your qualities, which will most likely also involve raising your score. Once you’re both satisfied, you should consider publishing the pdf version of your Checklist on your Thela profile for all to see. 3. Explore the TCBL services you’re interested in If you’ve expressed interest in one or more on-going TCBL innovation activities, make sure your Advisor helps you to learn more about these services and introduces you to the key figures. Ask him or her to point you to relevant sections on the platform or website, Guidebooks or _zine articles, or interventions at one of the yearly #TCBL events that can help you better understand what is happening and how you can become involved. 4. Give feedback to your Advisor The Welcome Service is a good opportunity to convey your needs and expectations as concerns what you want to get out of TCBL. If you have ideas or suggestions for new or existing pilot initiatives, Lab services or service platforms, your Advisor is your best channel for your voice to be heard. You can also discuss licensing and pricing for different services, according to different scenarios for post-June 2018. 5. Help us improve the Welcome Service As you are probably aware, the Welcome Service you are experiencing is in the test period of the final year of the TCBL project. You’ll probably have some ideas as to how this service can be improved that will be very helpful to us. Indeed, the more effective the TCBL Welcome Service, the greater the value you will get from the TCBL Associates joining the network after you.
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NEXT STEPS We expect the delivery of the Welcome Service will set into motion the systemic benefits of both being an Advisor and receiving Advisor services. Through the experience of service delivery in the coming months, we expect to further refine the role and the systems governing selection and service delivery. This will include: •
•
•
Definition of the feedback flow mechanism whereby Advisors can channel the insights gained through interaction with new Associates to the TCBL coordinators and those responsible for different activities. (until September 2018) Extending the Welcome Service to TCBL Associates from the first and second Calls and adapting it to the rolling call procedure to be launched in September 2018, including a more systematic and effective approach to the pairing procedure. (starting September 2018) Application of the Gamification service not only for the identification of Advisors but also to partially or wholly automate pairing with new Associates. (early 2019)
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Advisors Guide – 2018 Edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
DOCUMENT INFORMATION REVISION HISTORY This document is Annex I to TCBL Deliverable 2.5, “Achievements and Perspectives in Knowledge Exchange (with special focus on Scouting and Issue Tracking) – Version 2”. Author: Jesse Marsh (Prato), This Annex is also written by Jesse Marsh. REVISION Version 1 Version 2
DATE
AUTHOR
25.06.2018 30.06.2018
Jesse Marsh Jesse Marsh
ORGANISATION
DESCRIPTION
Prato Prato
First draft for review Second draft incorporating reviewers’ comments.
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise. Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.
COPYRIGHT This work is licensed by the TCBL Consortium under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, 2015-2016. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ The TCBL Consortium, consisting of: Municipality of Prato (PRATO) Italy; German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research - Center for Management Research (DITF) Germany; Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB) Italy; Skillaware (SKILL) Italy; Oxford Brookes University (OBU) UK; imec (IMEC) Belgium; Tavistock Institute (TAVI) UK; Materials Industrial Research & Technology Center S.A. (MIRTEC) Greece; Waag Society (WAAG) Netherlands; Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd (TCOE) UK; eZavod (eZAVOD) Slovenia; Consorzio Arca (ARCA) Italy; Unioncamere del Veneto (UCV) Italy; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (HCIA) Greece; Sanjotec - Centro Empresarial e Tecnológico (SANJO) Portugal; Reginnova NE (Reginnova) Romania, Centexbel (CTB) Belgium, Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) France, IAAC (FabTextiles) Spain, Cleviria (Cleviria) Italy, and Sqetch (Sqetch) Netherlands.
DISCLAIMER All information included in this document is subject to change without notice. The Members of the TCBL Consortium make no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Members of the TCBL Consortium shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The TCBL project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technology development, and innovation under Grant Agreement n.646133.
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