Looking for Project Partners!

For the Creative Marketing & Innovation programme, we are looking for SME partners in the Rotterdam region who are interested in collaborating with our first-year students for a 10-week period, from 24 November to 16 February.

About the programme: 

The assignment focuses on multiple value creation: students explore how an organisation can create not only profit but also a sustainable and social impact. Throughout the project, they work with companies that are seeking a more socially responsible and/or sustainable way of doing business but are not yet sure how to achieve it.

During the collaboration, students gather new insights and facilitate creative sessions that may lead to innovative, sustainable ideas for your organisation. The results are shared through an interim pitch and a final presentation, in which students present their research and (sustainable) ideas.

How we collaborate: 

• Limited time investment required from your organisation

• Guidance and structure provided by the university

• You act as the client and sparring partner

What your organisation gains

• New insights and fresh perspectives

• Access to the latest marketing and innovation trends

• Creative and sustainable ideas that add real value

For more information contact: Kaylee Simons

Discover the power of data-driven innovation and prepare your organisation for the future.
Do you also see countless opportunities to work with data, but lack the people or capacity to do so?
Rotterdam Business School (RBS) offers you a unique opportunity. Our third-year students from the Data Impact Generator (DIG) programme are eager to get started on your data challenge!

What can you expect?

• Goal-oriented, data-driven solutions:
  Our team of students takes on the challenge of creating impact within your organisation — from a data-driven perspective. Using tools such as dashboards, analyses, algorithms, and process improvements, they help make your organisation future-proof.
• Multidisciplinary team:
  Benefit from the next generation of talent. Our diverse student teams represent at least three of the following study programmes: Business Administration, Business IT & Management, Finance & Control, Human Resource Management, Entrepreneurship & Retail Management, Global Marketing & Sales
• Implementation and experimentation:
  Our students go beyond design and advice — they experiment with different solution directions and implement the most promising ones to generate real impact within your organisation.
• Expert guidance:
  The students are coached and supervised by a team of experienced lecturers with a wide range of expertise.

How does it work?

• Participation in the programme means that a team of 4 to 5 students will work on your case for 15 weeks, spending approximately three days per week at your location.
  The programme starts in early February 2026.
• Your involvement — or that of your colleagues — is essential to the project’s success. Expect to spend an average of 1 to 2 hours per week, depending on how independently the group can work on the challenge. Typically, more guidance is needed in the beginning, which decreases as the students find their footing.
• The project concludes with a final presentation at your location.
  Providing an internship allowance is customary.

Examples of successful data impact projects

• At a major engineering firm, our students significantly improved marketing insights. Although marketing data was available, it was fragmented and underutilised. Thanks to our students, far more value is now being extracted from the data, and usage has increased by 60%.

• Another student team professionalised inventory management at a leading bathroom furniture company. The company moved from a gut-feeling approach to a data-driven, optimised inventory system, with data now forming the foundation of their operations.

Get involved!

Interested in participating or want more information?
Please contact Justin Boers at j.boers@hr.nl.

Seize this opportunity to welcome future data experts into your organisation and discover groundbreaking solutions.
Together, we create impact with data!

Are you an entrepreneur in the manufacturing industry and want to discover where circular opportunities lie within your company?
Sign up for Becoming Circularly Fit and receive free personal guidance from January to June. We’ll take you through a unique process that allows you to thoroughly analyse your company’s product portfolio. Together, we’ll identify how circularity can be translated into a unique business model that can be integrated into your organisation step by step.

We can offer this programme to 10 entrepreneurs. Participation is free of charge — the only investment we ask from you is your time, a maximum of 40 hours spread over six months.

Start and end date:

January 2026 – May 2026

Collaboration Format and Partner Expectations

We will provide free guidance to 10 entrepreneurs using our unique method to identify and capitalise on circular opportunities.
The only requirement is a time investment of up to 40 hours over half a year.

What’s in it for your company

By participating in this project, companies can take a conscious and structured step toward a circular business model, which can bring significant benefits such as reducing the use of raw materials leads to cost savingsr, reusing components and materials makes you less dependent on suppliers, extending product lifecycles creates new revenue opportunities through services, strengthens your competitive position and establishes your reputation as a future-ready company.

For more information contact: Koos Kerstholt (n.a.kerstholt@hr.nl / 06 22 517236) 

Work together with multidisciplinary student teams in the Navigating Times of Crisis programme to support your organisation’s transition!

Is your organisation on the verge of a major transition? For example, scaling up a scale-up, a business transfer, a merger, or perhaps a transformation to address serious supply chain issues? Or is a significant behavioural change needed within the organisation? Major changes bring complex challenges, and our students are eager to help tackle them.

From February to June 2026, multidisciplinary student teams (Entrepreneurship & Retail Management, Business Administration, HRM, Finance Tax & Advice, Global Marketing & Sales) will work three days a week on real-life cases within organisations. They bring up-to-date expertise, energy, and a fresh perspective to analyse challenges with you, design solutions, and directly support the first steps in implementation.

What does the collaboration require?

• A case with strategic or organisational impact

• Access to data, systems, and involved employees

• Weekly supervision of approximately 2 hours

• Possibility to work on-site at least two days a week

What does it deliver?
At the very least, the start of implementing a (tested) solution along with an advisory report or strategic report.

Interested?
Send a message to rbs-connect@hr.nl. We would be happy to get in touch with you. In mid-February, we will host our internship fair where you can meet suitable students. We kindly ask you to submit your case by the end of this year.

Collaborate on Your Digital Challenges with Students from Rotterdam Business School

Digitalisation offers both opportunities and challenges. At Rotterdam Business School, third-year students and lecturers work together with your organisation on smart solutions that create value. They do this for 16 weeks, 3 days per week. In addition, students follow a structured programme at the university. Join us and take the next step together!

Our Year 3 Programmes

Dealing with GenAI
In the Dealing with GenAI programme, a team of about four students from disciplines such as Business Administration, Finance, IT, HRM, and Marketing works together with the lecturer and your organisation on how GenAI can be responsibly implemented in business. Students research opportunities and risks, provide advice, and deliver a prototype.

Data Impact Generator
In the Data Impact Generator, a team of about four students from disciplines such as Business Administration, IT, HRM, and Marketing works together with the lecturer and your organisation on a business challenge with a strong data component. Examples include optimising procurement processes or developing a new data-intensive proposition.

Building Advanced DataTech
In Building Advanced DataTech, a team of students from the Business IT & Management programme works with your organisation to create value with data. Examples include setting up a data warehouse, developing a machine learning model, or implementing GenAI.

Digital Business Innovation
In Digital Business Innovation, students from the Business IT & Management programme collaborate with your organisation on an open innovation challenge. This challenge may involve new products, processes, services, and/or a changing value proposition. The students develop the solution into a working (often digital) prototype.

Join as a Partner!
Our lecturers are happy to discuss meaningful assignments with you, after which we will select a suitable programme.

Dealing with GenAI
Robert Rujsaard

Data Impact Generator
Justin Boers

Building Advanced DataTech
Frans Staal

Digital Business Innovation
Arend Keemink

Starting February 2026, two inspiring programmes will launch in which students from various study programmes collaborate with companies committed to multiple value creation:
Doing Business with Impact and The Integrated Dashboard.

We are looking for companies and organisations willing to work with students on sustainable strategies, impactful innovations, and data-driven insights.

Doing Business with Impact

Local SMEs face major challenges in the transition to a sustainable economy.
In this programme, students collaborate with SMEs to develop strategies that increase sustainable and social impact.
The students assist organisations at the start of their journey toward multiple value creation and provide practical tools to translate CSRD regulations into concrete actions.

Highlights:

• Contribute to sustainable impact

• Strategically collaborate with students on future-oriented solutions for SMEs

• Stimulate innovation in a changing economy

Participants: students from Finance, Global Marketing & Sales (GMS), and Business Administration (BDK)

Project groups: up to four students per organisation

The Integrated Dashboard

More and more companies want to break the status quo and truly make a difference in society.
In this programme, students work with larger SMEs on sustainable strategies that focus not only on profit but also on social and ecological impact.
Students help refine data and translate it into dashboards and KPIs that make societal value visible.

Highlights:

• Analyse organisational values and link them to sustainable objectives

• Increase societal impact through insightful reporting

• Research sustainability certifications and provide advice on implementation

• Develop dashboards and KPIs that guide multiple value creation

Participants: students from Finance, HRM, and Business IT & Management (BIM)

Project groups: up to four students per organisation

Practical Information

• Period: February – June 2026 (approx. 16–20 weeks)

• Requirement: a physical workspace where students can collaborate with your organisation

• Company time investment: average of 1–2 hours per week of supervision, decreasing over the course of the programme

• Cost: no fee required

• Condition: your organisation is working on or wants to work on multiple value creation (social, ecological, and economic return)

Interested in participating?

We would be happy to discuss which programme best fits your organisation.
Contact Esther Karreman, Account Manager Business Partners, via rbs-connect@hr.nl

Together, we create value that truly makes a difference — for your company, our students, and society.