Newsletter 20

Bio-Congress in Boston successful for the Province of Liege

This spring, The Province of Liege was represented at the Bio’2000 Congress in Boston. The Province successfully presented the joint biotechnology projects that have been developed together with two other districts of the larger Meuse-Rhine Euregio. These joint projects were set up to encourage cross-fertilisation between industrial and academic research, and attract foreign investment into the region. The international biotechnological meeting and exhibition included over 600 speakers in more than 120 workshops and sessions and brought together around 3,500 biotech leaders from over 30 countries. The international forum offered more than 250 exhibit spaces, displaying technologies, products, educational tools and services from every segment of the biotechnology sector. The Province of Liege was present because of its impressive wealth of knowledge in the area of biotechnology and its related fields.

Griffith Micro Science invests in the Province of Liege

Griffith Micro Science has invested BEF 218 million (Euro 5.5 million) in expanding its medical sterilisation infrastructure in the Province of Liege. The company is a part of the medical sterilisation division of Ion Beam Applications and is based at the ‘Petit Rechain’ industrial park in Liege. It employs about 1,100 people in 14 countries and this new expansion will allow the company to create many new jobs in the Liege region. It established itself in Liege in 1996 and operates in the field of sterilisation of disposable medicines through a so-called ethylon-oxide technology. Griffith Micro Science now owns eight sterilisation factories in Europe, of which three are in Belgium.

Ortis obtains Royal Export Award

Family enterprise Ortis has obtained one of the ten ‘Royal Export Awards’ from the Belgian office for external trade. The company has been rewarded for exporting 70% of its BEF 540 million (Euro 13.5 million) turnover in 1999. Ortis specialises in producing natural and cosmetic remedies based on herbal ingredients and is located in the peaceful east of the Province of Liege, close to the German border. It is not the region, however, that is providing the raw materials for the enterprise - the majority of herbs are imported from China, Namibia and the United States. Nevertheless, next spring a test will be carried out in Liege with a biological culture of ginseng across ten hectares of land.

Ortis manufactures 120 products that are a mixture of medicine and foods, based on herbs whose beneficial properties have been renown for centuries. Phytotherapy or disease treatment using herbs is without doubt the oldest medicine in the world. The current products are highly effective and while Ortis has always tested effectiveness on volunteers, it will in the future be resorting to clinical tests. The company’s customers include natural product shops, which together with pharmacies are the main distribution sources of phytotherapy. Many of the product’s customers are women of 40+ years and in fact, three quarter of the personnel at the Ortis Laboratory is female. One third of the workforce has a university degree, while two thirds come from the Liege region. Six languages are used at Ortis every day: German, French, Dutch, English, Italian and Spanish, and each year up to 15,000 people visit the Ortis’ premises and tour the educational exhibition ‘The secrets of officinal herbs’ which was set up in 1998 to celebrate company’s 40th anniversary.

Marine Power Europe successfully passes ISO 9002 follow-up audit

In early spring, Marine Power Europe Inc. successfully passed its fourth follow-up audit of ISO 9002. The company is now preparing to retake the certificate in September. Marine Power Europe is a subsidiary of Mercury Marine USA, which is a division of the USD 4.3 billion (Euro 4.7 billion) Brunswick Corporation and the largest producer of marine engines in the world. At its plant at the ‘Petit Rechain’ industrial park of Liege, the company assembles and distributes outboards, inboard and sterndrive engines for all types of vessels, and supplies all necessary parts and accessories. It operates through a network of sales offices and distributors across Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Marine Power Europe started its activities in the Province of Liege almost 30 years ago. According to General Manager Jacques Bronchart, the ‘Petit Rechain’ site was selected among several other options in Belgium and other European countries, because the Liege region “had excellent manpower availability, a large pool of skilled suppliers and was centrally placed to serve the key markets. The healthy co-operation with local and regional authorities and stable political situation also played a part in the company’s choice”.

For further information, please contact Mr Jacques A. Bronchart, General Manager Marine Power Europe, Tel: +32/87/32.32.01 and Fax: +32/87/31.19.65

New SPI+ building foundations laid

The construction of a new building for SPI+ in the Liege ‘Vertbois’ district of Liege has begun. Over the next 15 months, a building whose architecture expresses all the dynamic symbols of the Province of Liege will be erected. The winning construction team, appointed following a call-for-tender, is Dethier and Associates architecture office, Ney Structural Engineering and CRAU engineering offices, as well as Bouygues Belgium Construct and Norpac construction companies. The building, covering 6,500 square meters, will be three storeys high and house not only SPI+ services but also its subsidiary SORASI. There will be an area especially designed for welcoming companies active in the field of telecommunications and high tech. An estimated 120 people will work in the new building and the new premises will represent an investment of some BEF 334 million (Euro 8.4 million), of which 63% will be subsidised by the Province of Liege, the Walloon Region and the European Regional and Development Fund (ERDF). The new SPI+ premises complete the ‘Vertbois’ district designed to accommodate the various economic institutions of Wallonia.

For further information, please contact Mrs Claire Dumoulin, SPI+, Tel: +32/4/220.11.26, Fax: +32/4/220.11.20 and E-Mail: claire.dumoulin@spi.be
 
 

Target Power Group wins new client

The Liege-based Target Power Group has won a new client – Bon a Parte, a Danish company selling luxury ‘ready-to-wear’ clothes through mail order. Overwhelming success on the Scandinavian, German and Dutch markets has led Bon a Parte to award Target Power Group the contract for its ‘Paloma Fashion’ catalogue on the German market, before expanding this to include the Belgian, French and South-European markets. The winning of Bon a Parte underlines the Target Power Group’s continuous international growth in international activity, due not only to liberalisation of the European telecoms sector and the increase in the exchange of information through the Internet, but also to the exceptional linguistic abilities available in Liege region.

The Group has been located at the Liege ‘Hauts Sarts’ Teleparc® for three years now. It operates from a building especially designed for call centre activities and its work floor is a hive of activities. Set up in 1991, the company started as a telemarketing operator making phone calls for third parties. In 1997, its financial partners allowed the Group to expand its activities to include the reception of phone calls. Today, the integration of telecommunications and Information Technologies allows the Target Power Group to receive (Inbound) and emit (Outbound) a large volume of calls to meet the needs of its growing number of clients. In addition, the Group’s services in the field of database management, design and multimedia through its specialised VISIBLE Business Unit have contributed to a rapidly growing turnover.

For further information, please contact Mr Marc Zangerlé, Director Target Power Group, Tel: +32/4/256.97.11, Fax: +32/4/256.97.98 and E-Mail: marc.zangerle@targetpower.be
 

Martine Constant & Partners expands its services

Martine Constant & Partners is a Liege based telemarketing and direct marketing agency that owns two call centres and a total of 75 workstations. Set up in 1995, initially the company handled the start-up of call centre activities and telemarketing, while at the same time carrying out audits, offering consulting services and handling calls. Today, the company also manages human resources in the field of marketing and makes use of the latest technologies in order to meet requests of callers around the clock. It also assists in recruitment and training in the field of marketing and regularly organises seminars geared to practical advice aimed at improving the skills of participants.

Martine Constant & Partners conducts telemarketing and direct marketing actions all over Europe. It employs qualified telemarketeers, who use their native language (French, German or Dutch) and can also take on business in most of the other EU languages: English, Spanish, Swedish, Italian and Portuguese. The company has five departments that offer an increasing range of services, covering all kinds of client needs: The Inbound-Outbound Telemarketing Department applies personalised marketing techniques in both Business to Business missions and Business to Consumer actions; the Market Surveys Department undertakes brand awareness surveys, polls and feasibility studies; the Quality Analysis Department deals with corporate image; the Training, Audit & Recruitment Department is responsible for the organisation of marketing seminars and conferences; and the Creation & Management Department helps companies in setting up their own call centres.

For further information, please contact Mrs Bénédikte Besure, Assistant-Manager of Martine Constant & Partners, Tel: +32/4/229.37.07, Fax: +32/4/229.37.08 and E-Mail: mcpl@martineconstant.com
 
 

The Euro 2000 Football Championship has begun

The time has come: In June, the Euro 2000 Football Championship takes place in Belgium and The Netherlands. The Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Romania and Yugoslavia will play matches in the Standard of Liege football stadium, which offers luxury spectator-boxes for businesses. With thousands of football fans travelling to the city, Liege expects a marked increase in activity for the tourism sector and for enterprises.

The event provides a unique opportunity for the region to present its assets. Some 130 sports, cultural and socio-economic activities are to be held before, during and after the event in 41 municipalities around the Province of Liege. They range from the ‘International Jazz Festival of Liege’ and the ‘Francofolie of Spa’ to the ‘Picasso’ and ‘Men and Communication’ exhibitions and sports activities ending with the ‘International Show Jumping of Liege’ in October.

For further information on the Euro 2000, please contact Mr Christian Pétry, Tourism Federation of the Province of Liege, Tel: +32/4/322.65.10