Why you need this course:

Today, more and more major industries are being run on software and delivered as online services. At the same time, more and more Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurs are overturning established industries with their technology-centered solutions. And so far, things are only accelerating. Organizations are busy digitizing their internal processes, their products and services, or their channels to reach out to customers. These transformation initiatives are in fact a combination of several, small and large scale, software development projects.

You will use Python as the programming language to teach the fundamentals of algorithm development. After you learn the basic syntax and programming skills, you will focus on web development. In addition, you will learn how to code with HTML and CSS, as well as focus on one of the most widely used Python frameworks for web development.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Think algorithmically and solve programming problems efficiently;
• Develop your own dynamic webpage with data collection and storage capabilities, and without being limited by the mainstream website creation tools like WordPress;
• Develop software with basic functionality to improve their productivity using the very popular and easy-to-learn programming language Python;
• Appreciate what it really takes to turn an idea into a digital business;
• Learn how to choose the best approach for a software development initiative.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• Through exposure to software developers who understand business requirements and business professionals who can code;
• Through a company’s real-life challenge;
• Through coaching sessions by the company during the deep-dive challenge, such as Mobile Vikings and In The Pocket;
• By creating small yet functional programs in Python that you can leverage.

Course holder:
Prof Dr Öykü Işık

Why you need this course:

The amount of data available to organizations and individuals is unprecedented, while research predicts a significant shortage of advanced analytics talent, and an even larger shortage of managers and leaders who can make decisions based on data. Companies seeking to maximize use of the available data require finance and strategy professionals who understand data science and know how to use it to solve business challenges.

During this boot camp, you will learn current data and technology challenges of managers and decision-makers, as well as the language, concepts, insights and analytical tools required to deal with them. You will apply the Python programming language and essential machine learning techniques (including data visualization and exploration, predictive analytics, network analysis, natural language processing) to practical exercises and cases. You will also put your coding and analytics knowledge to use through the deep dive challenge at an international strategy consulting or financial services company.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the advantages of data science and machine learning methods;
• Apply the Python programming language for general-purpose programming and solving business cases (no prior programming knowledge required);
• Comment and contribute more effectively to financial and strategic business challenges in an increasing complex organizational context.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• By discussing many practical examples and real-life coding exercises;
• Through guest speakers who are data scientists in the finance and consulting industries;
• Through a deep dive challenge (organized in the format of a Hackaton) in which you and your team members will collaborate intensively on a real big data challenge a financial service company is facing (e.g. Allianz, a leading insurance company in the world);
• Through presenting your solutions to the board of directors of the case company (as winners).

Course holder:
Prof Dr Kristof Stouthuysen

Why you need this course:

In times where digitisation is radically transforming many industries, incumbent organisations are trying to grasp what the digital age means for their current business model. In sharp contrast with digital natives such as Google, Facebook or Snapchat, many existing enterprises have not been built to compete in this new environment where the digital and physical world are blended seamlessly. But how to survive – and win – in the digital age?

This boot camp focuses on digital transformation, a form of end-to-end, integrated business transformation where digital technologies play a dominant role. You will be addressing questions like: What are the new realities of the digital economy? What does digital innovation and transformation mean for existing companies? How to start a digital transformation and grow digital capabilities over time? How to apply digital technologies and innovation to business models, product attributes and company ecosystem combinations?

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Understand what digital transformation means for an organization;
• Recognize different leadership types for digital transformation;
• Discuss how established companies can respond to digital disruption.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• By playing the digital transformation leadership game;
• Through sessions by guest speakers, e.g. from Volvo Group;
• Through company visits during the Amsterdam trip, e.g. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines;
• Through a one-week deep dive in real-life transformation challenges at several Belgian companies, e.g. Fednot, Renson, TVH.

Course holder:
Dr Lieselot Danneels

Why you need this course:

Supply chain activities – inventory management, warehousing, sourcing, and transportation – have been performed since the start of commercial activity. It is difficult to visualize any product that could reach a customer without logistical support. Yet it is only since the last few years that firms have started focusing on supply chain management as a source of competitive advantage. There is a realization that no company can do any better than its supply chain. This becomes even more important given that product life cycles are shrinking, and competition is intense. Supply chain management today represents a great challenge as well as a tremendous opportunity.

Your goal on this course will be to improve supply chain design and planning decisions to benefit the performance of the firm as well as the entire supply chain. You will develop an understanding of the complex interactions between supply chain and other functional areas, particularly marketing and finance.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Improve a firms’ strategic and financial performance by effectively managing its supply chain;
• Make complex supply decisions such as distribution network design, sales & operations planning, or offshoring versus onshoring location decisions;
• Apply state-of-the-art practices in digital and smart supply chains.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• Through experiential learning, supply chain simulations, case-based teaching, industry guest speakers, a field trip and a deep dive challenge to advise a real company in their current supply chain challenges.

Course holder:
Prof Dr Robert Boute

Other Teaching Faculty:
Prof Dr Behzad Samii
Prof Dr Ann Vereecke

Why you need this course:

What do Alipay, Bitcoin, Klarna, Facebook, Qover and Revolut have in common? They all want a piece of the financial services sector pie, which is facing a fundamental transformation. Not only is digital technology the driver of this change, but the digital transformation also brings in a new attitude regarding user experience and an intense revision of global regulation.

In this industry-focused boot camp, you will zoom in on the emerging ecosystem of collaborative competitors. Digital technology is a major disruptive force in the financial services sector: Incumbent companies such as major banks and insurance companies have woken up to the digital revolution and are experimenting with mobile banking, AI, Bots, Blockchain, Tokens and digital platforms. The goal of this boot camp is for you to build an in-depth understanding of the main FinTech drivers, forces and dynamics in the financial services sector.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Interpret the major trends that are shaping today’s financial services landscape;
• Understand the interplay between incumbents (banks & insurance companies), start-ups/scale-ups, big techs and regulators, and how they engage each other (partner – compete);
• Master the basics of how technologies like blockchain, AI, digital platforms, mobile apps, etc. work and impact organizational business models;
• Recognize how the ‘FIN’ part is changing due to ‘TECH’ influences, e.g. the trends in payments, lending, daily banking, insurance, …

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• By discussing and learning from real-life FinTech cases and news articles;
• By interacting with industry professionals through testimonials and company visits;
• Through working in teams on a FinTech focused deep-dive case assignment provided by a company.

Course holder:
Prof Dr Bjorn Cumps

Why you need this course:

Healthcare is an important industry and public sector in society requiring specific management methods that fit regulated markets too. Involved industry sectors include biomedical technology, such as medicines, medical devices and diagnostics, as well as enabling technology, such as mobile health (m-health). On the healthcare delivery side, it includes hospitals and health management organisations.

During the boot camp, you will learn how to manage practical clinical and health problems, making use of technological or operational innovation. You will investigate how big data analytic sciences and digitally enabled care delivery processes will alter the way healthcare is delivered, such as the use of advanced biomedical products, hospital procedures and practice styles. In short, you will focus on how to create, implement, embed and sustain innovations in healthcare systems, while always taking a patient perspective and health system view, as opposed to a silo view, as a guide to manage and innovate.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the biggest trends, developments and complexities impacting the sector and the key success factors to be active in the health and life sciences field;
• Design and critically evaluate the innovation and operational strategies pursued by the healthcare ecosystem players, i.e. physicians and hospitals, biopharmaceutical and medical technology producers, and health payers and regulators;
• Apply fundamental concepts of health economics and value-based thinking (ICER, QALY, etc.) to make business cases and obtain market access for innovative health technologies;
• Formulate answers to real-world health system problems, currently faced by healthcare ecosystem players, and put them into practice right away.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• Through a visit to a hospital you will experience the impact of technology in a life sciences lab;
• By receiving testimonials by health entrepreneurs, public and corporate medical leaders;
• Through a real management problem to be solved in a hospital or medical industry setting, taking a deep dive to present a solution at the end of the bootcamp to a jury of professors and corporate execs.

Course holder:
Prof Dr Walter Van Dyck
Prof Dr Brecht Cardoen

Why you need this course:

To limit global warming, we need to decarbonize our society, starting with a zero-carbon energy system. Part of the solution are renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, wind energy, biomass, and ocean energy. The renewable energy business is fast-growing and becoming mainstream. Corporates increasingly have green energy procurement targets, while citizens organize the supply of their energy consumption individually or collectively.

This boot camp is organized around the real-life challenges that the actors in this energy transition are facing. You will use the management frameworks from other courses, such as strategy, entrepreneurship, finance, and marketing, and apply them to these real-life challenges. We will divide you in multi-disciplinary groups and expose you to the main actors and concepts you need to know to be able to function in this sector.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Identify innovative renewable energy solutions;
• Apply management frameworks to the renewable energy businesses;
• Develop and present a renewable energy business model;
• Use renewable energy business jargon.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• By creating solutions for real-life challenges;
• Through interaction with guest speakers from different parts of the value chain;
• Through company visits or a conference visit

Course holder:
Prof Dr Leonardo Meeus

Why you need this course:

How can you deliver value to your customers and how can customers deliver value to you in the current FMCG context? You will be introduced to new trends, challenges, and the different stakeholders that are involved in the marketing and retail of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). You will improve the effectiveness of your marketing management strategy in creating value for and from their customers, ranging from the market analysis and the formulation of the strategy to the implementation.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Apply new trends and technologies in marketing research on FMCG (multi-sensorial research, online communities, social scraping…);
• Apply strategies & frameworks in FMCG innovation and marketing (customer journeys, omni-channel, e-commerce, mindless consumption, nudging, assortment architecture…);
• Realize business objectives, keeping in mind a context with an increasing focus on sustainability of all stakeholders involved.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• Through a deep-dive real-life case and assignments (Delhaize);
• By visiting companies in Belgium and the Netherlands, e.g. Delhaize, Haystack, Tony Chocolonely, Unilever;
• Through ‘Academia meets business’ material by Vlerick professors, e.g. customer journeys, customer centricity, omni-channel, e-commerce, mindless consumption, nudging, assortment architecture, multi-sensorial marketing, food marketing, implicit measures, etc.;
• Through ‘Business meets academia’ sessions by business managers, e.g. innovative marketing measurement techniques, retail dynamics in a food context, retail dynamics in a non-food context, sustainable retail, new product development, etc.;
• Through small group coaching sessions;
• Through action-learning workshops at the sites of companies;
• By delivering presentations for business juries.

Course holder:
Prof Dr Barbara Briers

Why you need this course:

This boot camp aims to equip you with the essential skills as a (junior) consultant in a professional services firm active in strategy consulting. While being trained on these skills, you will have the opportunity to apply them in a real-life case. You will solve a client case together with your project team, following the generic problem-solving method typically used by strategy consulting firms.

You will kick off by being introduced to the consulting industry and the problem-solving method, covering problem identification, problem structuring, problem analysis, and the communication of solutions. You will be exposed in detail to every phase and have the opportunity to practise a series of small exercises and cases.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Recognize the problem-solving methodology commonly used in consulting;
• Structure a problem in order to solve complex problems;
• Illustrate the (rational) elements of selecting solutions;
• Compose a sound communication structure.

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• Through a real-life project which presents a problem that may develop into a typical consulting project, e.g. a growth strategy for a roof tile manufacturer, a market entry strategy for a professional service company or the development of a digital strategy for a fast-fashion company;
• By presenting the solution to the client at the end of the boot camp.

Course holder:
Prof Dr Martin Weiss

Why you need this course:

The global sports industry is estimated to be a 1.3 trillion US dollar business*. This business consists of an elite group of professional athletes and organisation with a huge fan-base and media companies broadcasting the athletes activities. Besides this, also a group of mass participants sports can be identified that includes all amateur athletes, organisations and retailers supplying product to them. The sports business is characterised by industryspecific elements such as a very passionate and highly involved consumer base, big investments in human resources and a high level of uncertainty. There is a need for people who understand the do’s and don’ts in this business, and simultaneously, have the management skills to help sports athletes, organisations and other stakeholders to generate business value from athletic performances.

This bootcamp will focus on the business part of the sports industry. It will first introduce the participants to the specific industry. Next, digital technologies have changed the game of the sports business significantly. Hence, a second part of this bootcamp will discuss how digital technologies such as social media, sensors, virtual and augmented reality push this industry further into “over-the-top” customer experiences. In this context, also data, analytics and artificial intelligence is taking an increasingly important role in this business.

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the industry-specific dynamics and ecosystems in the sports industry
• Develop and present on-field and off-field innovation in the sports industry based on digital technologies
• Identify new opportunities for fan engagement using data, analytics and AI

You’ll obtain a hands-on learning experience:

• Through several company visits, the students will get a practical experience of
  the sports business & digital innovation.
• By applying their knowledge in two business challenges.

Course holder:
Prof Dr Philippe Baecke