BUSINESS MODELS INC BV

Their core work

Business Models Inc is an Amsterdam-based consultancy that helps organizations design, test, and implement business models for sustainability-driven economic transitions. Their name and project portfolio point clearly to a specific niche: they bring commercial and strategic thinking into research consortia that would otherwise be dominated by technical and scientific partners. In MARIBE they worked on investment frameworks and business cases for emerging marine industries; in R2PI they contributed to the business model dimension of moving companies from linear to circular production systems. They are the "how does this actually become a viable business?" voice in EU research projects.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

With only two projects spanning 2015–2016 start dates, the timeline is too compressed to identify a meaningful keyword-driven evolution. What the project titles do reveal is a directional shift: their first project (MARIBE) was sector-specific, focused on marine industries and blue economy investment, while their second (R2PI) moved toward a broader economy-wide framework — circular production systems applicable across industries. This suggests they were widening their scope from niche marine business modeling toward economy-wide sustainability transitions, but with just two data points this reading must be treated as tentative.

Their trajectory points from sector-specific marine business modeling toward broader circular economy frameworks, suggesting growing relevance to any industry undergoing a linear-to-circular transition — not just maritime.

How they like to work

Business Models Inc has never coordinated an H2020 project — they enter consortia as a specialist contributor, presumably the commercial and business strategy voice in otherwise research-heavy teams. Their 28 unique partners across just 2 projects indicates they join large, multi-stakeholder consortia rather than small focused teams. This profile — expert partner, never lead — is typical of consultancies that prefer implementation freedom over administrative burden.

Despite only two projects, they have built connections with 28 distinct consortium partners across 11 countries — an unusually broad network relative to participation volume, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of CSA and RIA projects. Their network spans Northern and Western Europe at minimum, given Dutch anchoring and 11-country reach.

What sets them apart

Few private consultancies specialize in business modeling at the intersection of marine/blue economy and circular economy — two fast-growing policy priorities in the EU. As a Dutch SME in Amsterdam, they sit in one of Europe's most active sustainability finance and innovation hubs, giving them access to both policy networks and commercial deal flow. For consortia building around ocean economy or industrial circularity, they offer something most academic and technical partners cannot: a credible commercial perspective grounded in EU project experience.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MARIBE
  Their largest project by EC funding (EUR 173,350), focused on marine investment for the blue economy — a high-policy-priority area that positioned them early in a sector receiving growing EU attention.
• R2PI
  A longer-running RIA project (2016–2019) on linear-to-circular economy transition, signaling capability in economy-wide business model innovation beyond maritime sectors.