Business Support Unit

Assignments

BSU supports and manages the programmes, projects and agreements with third parties of SCK•CEN. The BSU group:

• deals with all legal, juridical and contractual aspects;
• co-ordinates the national and international marketing;
• manages the quality assurance and planning activities;
• supports the follow-up of the scientific and financial results.

In order to meet the expectations of its internal and external stakeholders, BSU must efficiently manage and control all aspects of the relationships with the external clients. Therefore, BSU must assure an efficient and harmonised development of the internal interactions between requestors and providers of services and take care of streamlined processes.

The staff members have professional knowledge and experience at management level in marketing and commercial negotiation, contract management and legislation, financial management and financial instruments, project management and follow-up, and in establishing partnerships, branches, spin-offs and the like. On the whole, BSU has of a broad knowledge of all research areas of SCK•CEN. The institutes dispose of specialised technical-scientific knowledge.

Within BSU, international market knowledge on the different actors in the research areas is important. BSU is also an “intelligence centre” that assures the gathering, processing, storage and circulation of specific market and agreements related information and documentation.

Strategic priorities

1. Adapt and implement an integrated quality management system and develop quality awareness

For more than 25 years, SCK•CEN has been making efforts with regard to quality management. These efforts have led to an integrated quality management system. The main processes have been streamlined, which resulted in more transparency and efficiency, e.g. the evaluation of the scientific output.

SCK•CEN has obtained quality certificates, as a result of which it can maintain its grip on national and international research funds and services, and confirm or consolidate its position in regard to other institutions.

In the past, quality management was an asset. In the future, it will be an absolute must in order to realise high-level results in an auditable way. Only this way, SCK•CEN can present itself as a reliable and competent partner and services provider.

2. Integrated approach in project, contract, services and general management

BSU is working on the introduction of an instrument for Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP). By means of ERP, information on all company processes is linked so that all information is usable over the whole organisation and from different points of view. When introducing ERP, criteria are developed concerning the use of allocation resources, project categorisation and follow-up, and process follow-up in the scientific activities.

The activities are summarised in a number of programme lines with projects and tasks and a corresponding budget of receipts and expenditure, and appeal on allocation. This is linked to the proactive establishment of the resources in order to make the expenditures and results more clear and assure a faster follow-up.

3. Particularise the resources for services and follow-up of the expenditure

The external services of SCK•CEN are subdivided into statutory assignments and assignments for external clients. BSU keeps both within their budget and keeps the available allocation resources, the tariffs and the market prices in balance.

BSU investigates the reasons why assignments for external clients can appeal to allocation and gives advice on this matter to the SCK•CEN management.

Within the framework of the strategy, the image or scientific collaboration, BSU assesses the justification for acceptance of external services in addition to the strict statutory assignments.

BSU aims at effortless and harmonic internal services and internal invoicing. Together with the proactive establishment of the resources, this leads to a better predictability of the realisation of the programmes and to more transparency at the follow-up.

4. Originate, look after and support the valorisation of knowledge through entrepreneurship

When developing a market in which the acquired knowledge of SCK•CEN can be valorised and, in the short to medium-long term, can lead to a durable source of revenues, one can consider the establishment of a company with legal personality.

BSU is the centre in which these companies have to be established. For that purpose, BSU has to stipulate the criteria and examine the parameters in order to take a decision (among other things, the degree of industrial maturity, the market expectations, the commercial and social risk).

In the nuclear sector, however, the possibilities of establishing new companies are limited, especially because of the required scale and risk spread. Consequently, BSU will probably limit itself to assessments.

5. Further develop marketing

According to its statutory mission, SCK•CEN must exploit its technical and personnel potential to the best of its ability, without hindering the completion of the statutory assignments. This means that marketing is subordinate to the elementary assignments. Nevertheless, marketing is indispensable in order to realise the budget for a viable centre of excellence.

The SCK•CEN marketing is directed towards the financial valorisation of the developments made within its fields of competence, the use of its instruments and installations and the available technologies and competences.

The assignment of BSU is to determine the correct mix on a durable basis through:

• a proactive policy to detect opportunities for revenue raising;
• an active policy on the protection and exploitation of its intellectual property;
• a co-ordinated and active policy on national and international networking in order to make SCK•CEN better known and gather strategic information;
• stimulation of market-oriented thinking by supporting and organising internal marketing trainings;
• maximum exploitation of the possibilities of the integrated management system.

6. Optimise multidisciplinarity in knowledge and infrastructures

SCK•CEN has a broad range of competences and infrastructures that allow a very large diversity and multidisciplinarity in research and services. This asset, however, also contains the risk of fragmentation of the resources.

BSU must take into account the strategic options for the future and the synergy between the different disciplines. BSU assures a consistent connected approach for entering into agreements with external clients and possible partners, and for investing in existing or new infrastructures.

For new or strategically still undefined domains, BSU must form the cement between the different SCK•CEN disciplines involved, the external clients and the partners.

Head of Expert Group: Ceuterick Dirk