Opening NOIR Fashion Café in Roermond

Date: 3/4/2015. NOIR Fashion Café was opened in Roermond on Sunday 1 March, a wonderful new ‘food & retail fusion’ concept. Aranco developed the business plan and provided start-up support.

NOIR’s new, innovative “Food-Fashion-Living” concept for Roermond is a unique mix based on previous successful food & retail fusion introductions in cities such as Paris, Barcelona, ​​Milan and Amsterdam. NOIR offers a high-quality lunch menu (luxury coffee cakes, rich sandwiches and excellent salads) and combines this with trendy women’s clothing at a very good price-quality ratio as well as beautiful lifestyle products. It responds to the ever faster changing fashion trends by offering a frequently changing collection. The lunch menu is composed with great care and of course there are regularly beautiful new dishes on the menu. Personal service and attention for the customer are paramount in everything.

For more information and an impression of the atmosphere, see the NOIR Fashion Café Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/noirfashioncafe

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Supraregional communication plan Border info points

Date: 1/27/2015.

On January 27, Aranco explained the supraregional communication plan for border information points at the Dutch-German and Dutch-Belgian borders at the Euregio Rhine-Waal in Kleve (D), which was drawn up at the request of the cooperating Euregions.

At the moment there are various organizations along the German-Dutch and Dutch-Belgian borders that provide information and advice to (potential) frontier workers about the difference in social security, taxes, care, etc. These ‘border information points’ thus contribute to the – because of various obstacles still difficult — cross-border labour mobility. Until recently, all these information points operated under different names and cooperation took place mainly on an ad hoc basis. The need to achieve more structural coordination and cooperation within a structure of “Border info points” has meanwhile been recognised by the organisations involved. Various steps to achieve an actual joint profiling have already been taken.

Aranco was asked to develop a plan for the joint communication of the border info points. The communication plan specifically addresses five means of communication: website, social media, print media, dealing with the press and corporate identity protocol. In addition, a joint logo has been designed, which will be used together with the own regional logos based on a so-called “dual branding” strategy. A declaration of intent will also be signed by the various Euregions shortly, describing the minimum services provided by the border information points, as well as the cooperation between the border information points.

The central starting point of the developed communication plan is to communicate as supraregional as possible and as regionally as necessary. After all, a communication strategy that is as supraregionally oriented as possible benefits the visibility and profiling of the ‘Border Info Point’ brand, and thus the findability by the target group. We are pleased with the positive feedback from the Euregions about the communication plan drawn up and the contribution we have been able to make to the further strengthening of the quality of the personal border information provision.

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InnovAward: the largest innovation award in the Netherlands

Date: 1/6/2015. In 2015, the best innovative business proposals will also be eligible for the InnovAward, consisting of a financial contribution of 30,000 euros. You can also register. In 2013, 8 Awards were presented.

The InnovAward was established in 2012 on the initiative of the Province of Limburg and aims to raise awareness and interest in positive innovative developments in the Limburg economy. In addition, the Province of Limburg wants to stimulate and reward creative and innovative entrepreneurship. This emphasizes the great importance of a healthy business climate for innovations.

As chairman of the selection committee, I would like to point out the possibility of submitting proposals. Deadline for submission is January 15, 2015!

For more information and the registration form, see the InnovAward website: www.innovaward.nl

Arno Knoops

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Benelux recommendation on cross-border labour mobility

Date: December 16, 2014. On December 11, the next important step was taken in the development of the regional cross-border labour market with the signing of a Benelux agreement for smoother cross-border labour mobility. The Benelux recommendation focuses in particular on the mutual automatic recognition of diplomas in higher education, the provision of information to frontier workers and the better mapping of regional labour market data in the Benelux border areas. With regard to the provision of information to frontier workers, fully in line with the advice from the “Aranco reports” (March 2014), the focus is on digital border information provision (through the further development of the Benelux web portal for frontier workers) and on the coordination of initiatives on personal border information provision. The agreements made will be made concrete in annual implementation plans.

More info: http://www.benelux.int/nl/nieuws/benelux-ministers-willen-een-arbeidsmarkt- Zonder-grenzen

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Better connection between MBO education and the business community within the top sector Chemistry

Date: November 28, 2014. Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs (CHiLL) is a public / private partnership created on the initiative of the government with the aim of strengthening the Chemistry sector as part of the top sector policy in the Netherlands. The concrete assignment for CHiLL is: “Improving the connection between education and business and thus strengthening the innovative power through intensive cooperation between these parties, with the result: more and better trained people (increasing the share of knowledge workers) and more innovative power for the Chemical sector. ” CHiLL was created in 2012 from the merger of the Chemelot Center of Expertise (CoE) and the Chemelot Center for Innovative Craftsmanship (CIV). The current founding fathers (DSM, SABIC, UM, ZUYD, ARCUS and Leeuwenborgh) have received an investment contribution from the government of € 2 million (CIV part) and € 5 million (CoE part) respectively.

The insertion and linking of the MBO has been a point of attention within CHiLL from the beginning. In the review process, which has resulted in a new business plan for CHiLL, the need for stronger participation of the MBO has been emphasized once again. Aranco has been asked to support the development of an action plan that should shape the role of MBO within CHiLL in a sustainable manner. The starting point is that the positioning of MBO in CHiLL fits in with the plans for the redesign of the Technical Education South Limburg (TOZL). As the business community within the process technology, maintenance and laboratory technology sectors have a great interest in the strategic choices made by MBO, these partners are involved as much as possible in exploring the possibilities in the development of the action plan.

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Influence of the new Social Support Act on educational need for informal carers

Date: June 26, 2014.

Major changes are underway in the care and welfare sector, partly due to the three decentralisations in the social domain (youth care, work & income and long-term care). Although the three decentralisations cannot be viewed in isolation from each other, certainly from the perspective of municipalities, the latter decentralisation (with regard to long-term care) was particularly important for the present market research. Within this decentralisation, this specifically concerns developments such as the transfer of the guidance, support and care functions from the AWBZ to the Social Support Act as of 2015 (which means that these functions will therefore fall under municipal responsibility) and as a result the increasing (forced) extramuralisation for people in need of care with lower care severity packages. The aforementioned developments will mean that there will be increasing pressure on the shoulders of informal carers (informal carers and volunteers), and thus also the welfare organisations that support these informal carers.

Aranco was asked to conduct a market survey into the influence of changes in the social domain on the need for (additional) training of informal care providers. For this assignment, discussions were held with both municipalities and welfare organisations, in which the aforementioned decentralizations were approached in an integrated manner as much as possible.

Various options for the client have been elaborated in the market research plan in order to optimally meet the changing social needs.

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