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Meuse-Rhine's Business Biweekly

May 15, 2007

Issue: 158

ISSN: 1568-4180

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Europe, the Big Absentee

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Business and Industry

CHEMELOT UPGRADE
[BIZ: Geleen, May 15]
The Board of DSM has approved the Master plan for the Chemelot Research & Business Campus which was recently portrayed in a Meuse-Rhine webcast. The level of investment will be in excess of EUR 100 million. The R&B (Research & Business)...[more]

CHANGE AT BELCOMPANY NL
[BIZ: Maastricht 15]
Mr G.H. Ellens (48) has indicated that he will retire as managing Director of BelCompany BV (Netherlands) on July 1, 2007. The Managing Board of Macintosh Retail Group granted this request.

Mr Ellens is Managing Director of BelCompany...[more]

TFSC EDITOR FROM MSM
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 15]
Dr. Fred Phillips has been named Senior Editor of Elsevier's international journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change. Published continuously since 1967, TFSC publishes peer-reviewed advances in technology assessment, forecasting,...[more]

IIMS IN HEERLEN BIZ PARKS
[BIZ: Heerlen, May 14]
Seven business parks in Heerlen with an area of around 300 ha are soon to benefit from an integrated, incident-driven collective safety system (Integrated Incident Management System) which makes use of intelligent cameras. The project...[more]

VAN DEN ENDEN’S MAASTRICHT
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 14]
Dutch billionaire, Joop van den Enden, whose TV production company, Endemol, launched the reality-show craze with programs like Big Brother, is now turning his attention to Maastricht. He sold Endemol to Spanish telco, Telefónica, in...[more]

ROTARY HELPS EXPATS
[BIZ: Liège, May 13]
Liège’s six Rotary clubs are working together to welcome expatriates to Liège and encourages them to invest in the city. Check the website....[more]

LIEGE IN BOSTON
[BIZ/LIFE-SCI: Liège, May 12]
From 6 -9 May, Laurence Slangen, of SPI+, Liege, along with their U.S. Representative, once again attended the BIO Show, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

For the fourth consecutive year, visits were made on several companies who...[more]

130 NEW JOBS AT MOSAE GUSTO
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 11]
The new fine food market Mosae Gusto in the vaulted cellars of Mosae Forum will provide 130 new jobs. This 3,500 square meter indoor market opens August 28th. The new concept is branded as ‘Cucina Mosae, Preuve Limburg en Traiteur Faveurs’....[more]

HIGH EVS SHARE PRICE
[BIZ: Liège, May 11]
The shares of the Liège company EVS Broadcast reached a record high. The company recently received a EUR 1.6m contract for the 2008 Olympic Games in Peking. Since 1996 the Liège firm has been among the world top as far as digital replay...[more]

ELECTRABEL INVESTS EUR 3.5BN
[BIZ/INFRA: Brussels, May 11]
The Electrabel power utility is investing EUR 3.5bn in five new gas- and coal-fired power stations in The Netherlands and Germany. The new power stations have a total capacity of 3,200MW. In The Netherlands two gas-fired plants...[more]

SPE LUMINUS GREEN POWER
[BIZ: Liège, May 11]
SPE Luminus, the energy company, is going to invest between EUR 80m and EUR 90m in Belgium next year and will give preference to green energy. At the end of the year eight new windmills will be installed at Dinant and Vinalmont, and in March...[more]

DUTCH-GERMAN BIZ ASSOC.
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 11]
The Dutch-German Business Association (VNDU) was established on April 25. The VNDU is an association for business in the Dutch-German border region. It wants to improve the exchange of workers and approach what are often contradictory...[more]

AACHEN STADIUM
[BIZ: Aachen, May 11]
The City of Aachen and the football club Alemmania Aachen have signed a Letter of Intent to develop an area between the Soerser Weg and the Krefelder Straße, which will become home to the new stadium if all goes well....[more]

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS
[BIZ/EDU: Maastricht, May 11]
In The Netherlands, as well as globally, the importance of alternative investments is increasing. While traditional investments mainly make use of financial markets, alternative investments typically employ investments outside financial...[more]

STIPHOUT SOLD
[BIZ/LOG: Maastricht, May 11]
Maastricht’s Stiphout shipping line, which runs pleasure boats between Maastricht and Liège, among other places and is a leading company in the tourist business, has been sold with its tourist buses to Jansbergen Trading & Shipping...[more]

LOWER WALLOON EMISSIONS
[BIZ: Eupen, May 10]
The European Environmental Agency congratulated the Walloon region for a reduction in CO2 emissions by 9.5%. The speaker of the Walloon environmental organization Inter-Environment says that this is due to specific changes rather than being...[more]

WALLOON TEMPS UP 14.7%
[BIZ: Brussels, May 10]
There has been an increase in the number of temporary jobs in Wallonia, 14.5% on last year. One in every five jobs in Belgium involves a temp, and there are now half a million temporary workers, including students — 63% get a permanent...[more]

AC2 PRIZES
[BIZ: Aachen, May 10]
Three hundred and fifty guests were in the Coronation Hall of Aachen’s City Hall to witness the award for prizes for business potential in the economic region of Aachen, Düren, Euskirchen and Heinsberg. EUR 10,000 went to EMISENS from Jülich...[more]

AMB GENERALI Q1
[BIZ: Aachen, May 10]
AMB Generali had a very good start into the business year 2007

Storm loss "Kyrill" absorbed
Sales of basic pensions quadrupled in first quarter
Cost-cutting measures effective
First-quarter result increased to EUR...[more]

INNOVATION VOUCHER AWARD
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 10]
The concept of Innovation Vouchers, which is originally an idea from Limburg, reached the finals of the Innovation Regions in Europe Award (IRE). The IRE Award is being presented this year for the first time to a European region for...[more]

BIGGEST SOLAR PANEL PLANT
[BIZ: Heusden-Zolder, May 10]
The Glas Ceyssens company in Heusden-Zolder has the largest solar panel plant in Belgium. The installation has 2,000 solar panels with which, according to CEO Dirk Ceyssens, the company can provide all of the energy it requires....[more]

POWER AND CLIMATE CHANGE
[BIZ: Essen, May 10]
RWE is developing power stations that reduce emissions. The subject of preventing climate change will top the agenda in coming years: around the globe. We are aware of our responsibility, being one of the big CO2 emitters, and we are facing...[more]

LESS RED TAPE
[BIZ: Wavre, May 10]
The Walloon government is attempting to reduce red tape for business and the Walloon Business Association (UWE) took advantage of the occasion to make a point. The government decided in 2005 to set up an action plan to cover the development...[more]

PROSPECTS FOR HEIDELBERG
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 10]
The Maastricht cement factory, ENCI is expected to remain open for longer because of the increase in demand for cement. There had been plans to close the plant, but the German company, Heidelberg Cement Group, has announced that it...[more]

THREE ARCHITECTS FOR SPHINX
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 10]
The first designs for the new construction on Maastricht’s Sphinx site will be made by the architects Jo Janssen from Maastricht, Teeken Beckers from Heerlen and Maccreanor Lavington from Rotterdam. Janssen, Teeken Beckers and Maccreanor...[more]

BIO-METHANE PLANT
[BIZ: Eupen, May 9]
Twenty-one agriculturalists from Lontzen, Bleyberg, Welkenraedt and Baelen want to build a major bio-methane plant in Henri-Chapelle. This would use waste but also sugar beet from Lontzen and in the mid term should produce 4,000MW of power,...[more]

INTER-NED NEWSLETTER
[BIZ: Düsseldorf, May 9]
The Inter-Ned newsletter dealt with the following topics: the construction workshop in Germany on June 13 in Roermond; the growing demand for targeted information and doing business in Germany; the Export Day on June 12 in Hasselt; stronger...[more]

LAND PRICE LOWER IN HEINSBERG
[BIZ: Heinsberg District, May 9]
The number of construction land sales and the average price per square meter have dropped in the past year as against 2005 in Heinsberg. This was noted by the State Authority for Data Processing and Statistics (LDS). The land...[more]

MACINTOSH REPURCHASES SHARES
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 8]
The Macintosh retail group has repurchased 20,479 of its own shares....[more]

MECOM TO EXPAND IN NL
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 8]
The Mecom Group plc, which already owns the Media Group Limburg (for which it paid EUR 200m), now wants to take over the Wegener newspaper company, which publishes regional papers in The Netherlands, for EUR 800m. The company also has...[more]

UM EXPERTISE FOR EUROREGION
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 7]
The University of Maastricht’s SME portal is going to point business in the direction of the knowledge it requires. This includes everything from market research to lectures, and from business plan to training in business. The University...[more]

PARKSTAD NUMBER 5
[BIZ: Parkstad, May 7]
The real estate monitor reveals the potential of Parkstad. The Foundation for Real Estate Monitoring in Limburg has collected information on real estate in Parkstad. This provides statistical and qualitative information of housing, business...[more]

HANDBOOK FOR GERMANY
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 7]
The initiative of EURES (European Employment Services), a European Commission program to increase employment mobility within the European Union has been started, and in March an updated version of the Germany Handbook for Dutch Employers...[more]

BOSAL TO MAKE STEEL
[BIZ: Lummen, May 5]
Bosal, the Lummen manufacturer of exhaust systems has decided to produce its own steel. It’s a major steel consumer, producing 90 million pipes annually. This statement is made by Karel Bos at the Trends Inside Lunch discussion. Steel prices...[more]

GOOGLE LINKS FRENCH SITES
[BIZ: Brussels, May 4]
Google is providing links to Belgian French-language papers such as Le Soir and La Libre Belgique again. This was announced on the Copiepresse website, which has been involved in a lawsuit with Google. As a result of the legal battle,...[more]

MOBILE PODCASTING
[BIZ: Aachen/Jülich, May 3]
New media demand new market strategies and one that’s come up is mobile podcasting production. Messrs Cremer and Schattka, who founded a company called Sound Designer and have been active in sound design for events and the fashion...[more]

AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS
[BIZ: Maastricht, May 2]
The Agrarian Innovation Service point, SAI, has concluded that innovative agrarian developments have surged in the 2006/2007 period. The SAI is intended to assist agrarian business in the development of project ideas. The SAI partners...[more]

DETECTING RADIATION
[BIZ: Jülich, May 2]
The start-up company GründerStart GmbH has a stake in SEMIKON Detector GmbH, a start-up from the Jülich Research Center. The new company based in Jülich develops and produces custom-made detectors and detector systems for ionizing radiation...[more]

Top

Logistics and Infrastructure

IRON RHINE: WASTE OF TIME
[LOG: Namur, May 11]
The Walloon government is against the reopening of the Iron Rhine rail link between Antwerp and the Ruhr via The Netherlands. In an advisory document to the provincial government of Netherlands’ Limburg, the Walloon government said that...[more]

BIOMASS EXPLOSION
[INFRA: Sittard, May 11]
The biomass energy plant in Sittard, BES, was virtually completely destroyed by an explosion and a fire that followed. The damage will probably run into the millions. The plant, which became operational in 2005, represented an investment...[more]

SAVE TRAM STOPS
[INFRA: Spa, May 4]
Alarmed by the accelerated decay of the tram stops along the Balmoral route in Spa, efforts are being undertaken to restore them. Check the website....[more]

Top

Government and Education


DSM HELPS JOPPENHOF
[EDU: Maastricht, May 14]
DSM has financed two emergency classrooms at Maastricht’s international primary school the Joppenhof. The extra space has been rented for three years. Businesses seldom sponsor schools. But DSM has a special budget for this purpose...[more]

CHARLEMAGNE ROUTE
[GOV: Aachen, May 11]
The Euregionale 2008 development program has signed up five organizations to develop the Charlemagne Route currently in line for its support. These organizations are Heller Enterprises GmbH in Zürich, Müller-Rieger GbR in München,
realities:united...[more]

CHARLEMAGNE PRIZE
[GOV: Aachen, May 11]
On the Aachen website there is an extensive background article in English on Javier, this year’s winner of the Charlemagne Prize and his achievements....[more]

FORTY MAYORS IN ERKELENZ
[GOV: Aachen/Erkelenz, May 10]
In the countdown for the presentation of Euregionale 2008, on May 9, 40 mayors from the Aachen three-country region met at the Crutched Friars monastery in Hohenbusch in Erkelenz to gather a first idea of the program. The regional...[more]

AACHEN CITY REGION
[GOV: Aachen/Aachen District, May 10]
Information on developments on the new Aachen city region and urban agglomeration, to include the major towns in the area, will be provided at a meeting on May 24....[more]

CROSS-BORDER MEDIA STUDIES
[EDU: Maastricht, May 9]
The Applied Science University in Aachen, the Hogeschool Zuyd in Heerlen and Hogeschool Limburg in Genk are going to cooperate on communication and multimedia design (C-MD). An agreement is to be signed and a course will be introduced...[more]

BORDER SURVEILLANCE
[GOV: Hazeldonk, May 9]
The border police in the Netherlands want to install surveillance cameras at borders that are able to register car license plates. The police service is highly satisfied with a EUR 1.8m experiment that has taken place at the border crossing...[more]

GOV.STEVAERT MEETS BARROSO
[GOV: Hasselt, May 7]
Exactly 21 years after the closure of the first mines, Governor Steve Stevaert and Deputy Marc Vandeput were able to tell Limburg’s success story to the chairman of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. Limburg has today transformed...[more]

EXPERIENCE ECONOMY
[EDU/BIZ: Maastricht, May 7]
The 3MA Congress 2007 of Maastricht University Management and Marketing Association has ‘Experience Economy’ as its theme. It focuses on the development of a new business concept, which primarily derived from the creation of an experience...[more]

UMBS GETS TRIPLE CROWN
[EDU: Maastricht, May 2]
The International Accreditation Advisory Board of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) has approved the MBA programs of Maastricht University Business School for AMBA accreditation. AMBA accreditation, in addition to the EQUIS and AACSB accreditation,...[more]

Top

Life Sciences and Health


BIOBUSINESS EVENT
[LIFE-SCI: Maastricht, May 14]
Life Sciences Limburg and LIOF will share a booth at the BioBusiness Event 2007 that will take place on May 31, at the Amsterdam RAI Congress Centre. The BioBusiness Event is the network meeting for the Dutch Life Sciences sector....[more]

EUR 16.5M FOR HUY HOSPITAL
[HEALTH: Huy, May 11]
The CHRH hospital in Huy is starting on a major upgrade for the hospital, which represents an investment of EUR 16.5m. Fifteen thousand square meters will be added to the building, which will provide 318 more beds....[more]

BIOCLUB MEETING
[LIFE-SCI: Aachen, May 10]
There will be a meeting of the BioClub at room A032, Sammelbau Biologie, Worringerweg 1, RWTH Aachen, in Aachen. Dr. Gero Waschütza of CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH in Cologne will talk about human cell lines for the production of bio...[more]

Top

Science and Technology

EU-US CLUSTER COMPUTER
[SCI-TECH: Jülich, May 15]
The Jülich Research Center has developed a next generation high-performance cluster computer in close cooperation with companies from Germany and USA. With this system, a new cost-efficient performance class is realized. A balanced...[more]

ANITOXIDANTS AT LIEGE U
[SCI-TECH: Liège, May 7]
A major Liège study on antioxidants is going to be produced in a partnership between the Liège University and the hospital CHU. The objective is to develop a precise mapping of the province of Liège to determine the consumption of antioxidants...[more]

PROFISH TECHNOLOGY
[SCI-TECH: Liège, May 3]
A lot of fish die in rivers for various reasons, particularly as a result of the turbines used by hydro-electric power stations. A ninety percent mortality rate for eels, for example, is leading them towards extinction. But now a spin-off...[more]

MICRO-TECHNOLOGY
[SCI-TECH: Seraing, May 2]
Technifutur, which is a center for professional education in Seraing, is creating a new cluster or micro-technologies. This is a building equipped with specific materials to investigate professional training that has been established....[more]

Top

Leisure and Media

CONCERTS IN THE BARN
[LEI: Fouron, May 27]
Lullabies will be sung by Yolande Eymael and Mieke Vaes at a concert on Sunday, May 27 at 15:00hrs in the Barn in Fouron. Check the website....[more]

LIONS MONDIAL MAY FAIR
[LEI: Maastricht, May 15]
The Maastricht Mondial Lions Club, an English-speaking international service club, is holding its annual May Fair, on June 3, oddly enough, in the grounds of the historic Limbricht Castle in Sittard-Geleen. Go to the website if you’re...[more]

PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE IN LILLE
[LEI: Lille, May 14]
There is a first major retrospective for over 50 years of the work of the celebrated Flemish born French painter Philippe de Champaigne at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, from Friday April 27 through Wednesday August 15 2007. Seventy-five...[more]

M-XPERIENCE
[LEI: Maastricht, May 11]
The new magazine M-Xperience which was launched recently in Chateau Altembrouck in Fourons will have an initial circulation of 10,000 copies. More than 100 guests enjoyed the presentation at the Chateau where they were able to watch...[more]

2CV FROM ST. GERLACH
[LEI: Valkenburg, May 11]
Château St. Gerlach, which has been the location for many vintage car rallies, is now offering two Citroën CV cars with picnic hampers for a special route around Limburg’s castles. Check the website....[more]

MEDIEVAL DECATHLON
[LEI: Hergenrath, May 11]
There is to be a medieval decathlon in Eyneburg in Hergenrath from May 26 through 28. It will include unusual medieval activities including medieval rugby, ‘Running with the ram’ and also ‘Save the Princess’, and many other medieval...[more]

SAGA IN BILSEN
[LEI: Bilzen May 10]
The second edition of the Saga of the Biesenburcht will be on at Alden Biesen, in Bilzen, which will be turned into a medieval village with music, histories, knights in armor, and much else besides. Information via rachelle.thijs@bilzen.b...[more]

OPERA SOUTH WITH LIEGE
[LEI: Maastricht, May 10]
Opera Zuid [South] in Maastricht is going to produce an opera with the Royal Walloon Opera from Liège. This is the first time that these companies have worked on a co-production. The performance is scheduled for 2009....[more]

MASTER BUILDERS IN MAASTRICHT
[LEI: Maastricht, May 2]
Master Builders of The Netherlands and Belgium got together in Maastricht for a lecture organized by the NAI on May 11 at the Fine Arts Academy. This lecture represents the first occasion that the official Master Builders of The Netherlands...[more]

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