Research institutes
Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation
The Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (BISCI) develops smart and sustainable innovations in supply chain management. Set up by Maastricht University and the Province of Limburg in early 2019, BISCI seeks to apply the latest results of logistics research to address the challenges of service providers in the region and beyond. In addition, the institute trains the next generation of professionals who can contribute to supply chain innovation in the industry. BISCI derives its strength from closely collaborating with partners in the public, private and community sectors.
Fast facts
- Focusing on digital and sustainable supply chains
- Aiming for triple helix collaborations
- Located at the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo (Villa Flora)
The BISCI expertise and innovation centre is to start operations this summer. It will be part of the 'ecosystem' of Brightlands Greenport Campus Venlo, in which the business community, academics, students and representatives from various governments work together through open innovation and co-creation.
In this way, BISCI contributes directly to the innovation and competitiveness of individual companies and organisations in various sectors and helps strengthen the region’s economic infrastructure.
BISCI was set up by UM and Limburg province to help boost the regional economy.
A Brightlands institute
Brightlands is an open innovation community in a global context, connecting four campuses in the province of Limburg: in Maastricht, Heerlen, Sittard-Geleen and Venlo. The campuses provide entrepreneurs, scientists and students state-of-the-art facilities to support development, education, innovation and growth. Naturally, there are close links between all four Brightlands campuses, and together they enable Limburg to serve as an innovation region where researchers and entrepreneurs take on the major challenges in the areas of materials, health, food and smart services.
Research themes
BISCI is closely connected to the department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management of the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. The department offers an established team of scholars and an existing infrastructure that facilitates high-quality research relevant to industry.
The “triple bottom line” is a key concept within smart and sustainable supply chain management. It holds that organisations should commit to focus on social and environmental concerns, just as they do on economic gains. For every company, there should be a harmonious balance between "profit, people, and the planet" to obtain long term value creation and corporate social responsibility.
Research at BISCI is driven by new technological developments, the use of digitalisation and big data, the scarcity of resources and the role of people within the supply chain.
Education
Currently, BISCI is connected to two MSc programmes in Supply Chain Management:
- Global Supply Chain Management and Change (in Venlo)
- International Business / Supply Chain Management (in Maastricht)
Exemplary research topics include:
- Augmented reality (AR) in warehouses
- Autonomous vehicles and platooning
- Smart sensors in containers
- Drones for last-mile delivery
- Developing stronger but lighter packaging
- Supplier-enabled logistics services innovation
- Traceability of CO2 emissions throughout supply chain
- Digital technologies in logistics activities
News
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Blog: Mind the gap!
Friday, February 5, 2021Read moreA recent study states that for women in procurement, the pay gap is 21% and that even increases to 35% for higher procurement positions. With no difference in performance in terms of quality, companies need to mind this gap!
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BISCI partner of Holland Robotics Logistics
Wednesday, January 20, 2021Read moreSince January 2020, BISCI participates on behalf of Maastricht University in the research project Holland Robotics Logistics.
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Happy New Year From the BISCI team!
Wednesday, January 13, 2021Read moreFor BISCI, 2021 will be a year full of opportunities to contribute to making supply chains more sustainable and digital.
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Introductory Interview - Diogo Cotta
Thursday, December 17, 2020Diogo Cotta, Assistant Professor at Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics, gives a brief introduction to his roles and resposibilities within UM and BISCI. He explains in brief the research that he is currently working on, the current project at BISCI and living in the Netherlands.
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Blog: Nouvelle Année, Nouvelle Procurement!
Tuesday, December 8, 2020Operational excellence and product leadership depends on regular first-hand information exchange with the best suppliers on the market and on a deep understanding of the world beyond these suppliers. For 2021, let us take inspirtaion from Paul Bocuse and his procurement principle.
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Introductory Interview - Prof. Dr. Frank Rozemeijer
Tuesday, December 1, 2020Prof. Dr. Frank Rozemeijer, NEVI Professor at Maastricht University, gives a brief introduction to his multiple roles and resposibilities within UM and externally as well. He shares his experience with academia, practice and finding the right balance between the two.
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Blog: What is the purpose?
Wednesday, October 21, 2020The Netherlands is a country of people with a trade instinct, but also with a moralistic side. However, this seems to be changed because of the COVID-19 crisis. A strong shared purpose would help procurement professionals navigate these ethical challenges accelerated by COVID-19.
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PhD Interview - Dr. Ing. Victor Verboeket
Tuesday, October 20, 2020Our BISCI colleague, Dr Ing Victor Verboeket, shares his experience of successfully defending his PhD titled 'Supply Chain Disruption: The Game-changing Impact of Additive-manufacturing'.
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The creation of a new innovation hub for supply chain in Venlo
Tuesday, October 6, 2020At the end of August several companies, amongst them vidaXL, Moonen Packaging, Seacon Logistics, Arvato Supply Chain Solutions and Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (BISCI), joined together to create Supply Chain Valley (SCV). The SCV is a collaboration that seeks to work with government, companies and academia to deliver joint goals that result in great outcomes for all involved and the wider environment, society and economy.
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BISCI partner of Smart Packaging for Intelligent Logistics
Wednesday, September 23, 2020Since January 2020, BISCI participates on behalf of Maastricht University in the research project Smart Packaging for Intelligent Logistics. A consortium of triple-helix organizations participate in this ambitious project, funded by OpZuid and the European Union.
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Introductory Interview - Lieven Quintens, Senior Researcher at BISCI
Tuesday, September 15, 2020Lieven Quintens, Senior Researcher at BISCI, gives a brief introduction about his role at BISCI and UM, the important role of researchers and his favourite restaurant in Maastricht among other things.
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Blog: 2020 - Tipping Point for Digitization?
Tuesday, September 8, 2020The COVID-19 crisis has made it very clear that professional buyers and supply chain managers (SCM) are important for our economy. COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for many companies and the spotlight is on Procurement and SCM. So, how do we actually deal with risks in our supply chains?
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Introductory Interview - Bart Vos, Scientific Director at BISCI
Wednesday, August 26, 2020Bart Vos, Scientific Director at BISCI, gives a brief introduction about his role at BISCI and UM, his views on team building and an insight into his activities on a normal working day.
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Introductory Interview - Ton Geurts, Business Development Director at BISCI
Wednesday, August 26, 2020Ton Geurts, Business Development Director at BISCI, gives a brief introduction about his role at BISCI, his views on sustainable development and an insight into how he enjoys life in Maastricht.
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First month at BISCI: the perspective of our two newest team members
Wednesday, August 5, 2020Grant and Shreyas officially joined BISCI on 1 July as project managers. In this role, they work closely with Business Development Director Ton Geurts and support projects involving sustainability and digitalisation. After one month on the job, they share their first impressions and thoughts.
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Ton Geurts shares his experience on working from home during COVID
Wednesday, August 5, 2020Working from home has become the norm for many of us these days. Some love it while some would prefer to go back to their old routine. And yet, there are many reasons to believe that working from home, or at least a more flexible way of working, is the new normal. In this article, BISCI's Business Development Director Ton Geurts shares his own experience with home working, some of the lessons he's learned along the way along with his views on the future of home working.
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BISCI Summer Meeting 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020After over three months of virtual meetings, emails and video conferences, Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (BISCI) had its first in-person Summer Meeting on 10 July.
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Blog: Major Supply Chain transformation ahead?
Wednesday, July 1, 2020Earlier this month, Procurious (a global business network for supply chain management professionals) published its first Supply Chain Confidence Index. The study reveals that nearly all (97%) of the 600+ SCM professionals surveyed experienced a supply chain disruption related to COVID-19.
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BISCI contributes to research article on future of Purchasing and Supply Management
Thursday, June 18, 2020Ton Geurts, Business Development Director at BISCI, has recently contributed to a research article on the future direction of purchasing and supply management.
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A snapshot of the first BISCI event
Monday, February 17, 2020The Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation had its first event at the Brightlands Greenport Campus hosting around 200 guests with exiting workshops around digital and sustainability.
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Catching up with BISCI: ambitious agenda to create digital and sustainable supply chain innovation
Monday, January 27, 2020Set up by Maastricht University and the Province of Limburg in early 2019, the Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (BISCI) drives state-of-the art digital and sustainable supply chain innovation, combining expertise from knowledge institutions, businesses and government. Last week, we caught up with BISCI’s business development director Ton Geurts and BISCI’s scientific director Bart Vos to get an update on the institute’s first year and find out about their plans for the future.
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Article: Innovating obsolescence management in a service logistics network
Tuesday, December 3, 2019A network of companies has been involved in the maintenance of maritime equipment for the Royal Dutch Navy. How can this complex network of organisations improve the way they work together to enhance availability of ships and uninterrupted missions due to missing spare parts for maintenance?
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BISCI workshop during Dutch Food Week
Friday, October 11, 2019During the Dutch Food Week, Bart Vos hosted the interactive workshop ‘Sustainable food, how does it get on our plate?’ at BISCI’s home turf, the Villa Flora in Venlo. While the focus of the Dutch Food Week is mainly on what we eat, Bart’s workshop addressed how we get food where we want to consume it.
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BISCI participates in funding workshop on shorter logistics chains & bundling
Thursday, October 10, 2019BISCI participated in a workshop hosted by TKI Dinalog for the Nationale WetenschapsAgenda (NWA)-route 16 on ‘Logistics, Transportation and Mobility’ on Friday 4 October.
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Ton Geurts joins BISCI as new Business Development Director
Tuesday, August 27, 2019Ton Geurts will join BISCI as Business Development Director. He will support Greenport Venlo logistics and supply chain management from the Brightlands Campus in the Limburg region through smart and sustainable innovations.
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Events
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