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Headquartered in Leuven (Belgium) and with research sites across Belgium, in the Netherlands, Taiwan and the USA, an rep offices in China and Japan, imec leverages its state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure and its team of about 4,000 expert scientists, to drive open innovation across the globe. They unite world-industry leaders, Flanders-based and international companies, start-ups, and academia and knowledge centers, for R&D in nano-electronics and digital technologies, including advanced semiconductor scaling, silicon photonics, smart health, smart energy, smart mobility and smart cities solutions, artificial intelligence, beyond-5G and sensing technologies and more.

Next to its R&D offering, imec also leverages its expertise and large international industry network to support smaller organizations that have limited in-house R&D resources as well as larger companies with their innovation process from initial idea to fully functioning product, from the design of a product or chip, to prototyping, testing and optimizing, and manufacturing.

Finally, imec supports tech start-ups and scale-ups with a tailored offering. The imec.istart program is a business acceleration program that provides tech entrepreneurs with specialized coaching, facilities and overall support to help them grow their businesses, while the imec.scale-ups program focuses on larger innovative tech scale-ups looking to conquer the European market.

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Commissioned by the Flemish government, Lantis is building connections that make the city and region flourish. Lantis is responsible for the realisation of the Oosterweel connection, which will increase prosperity and improve the quality of life. Lantis is contributing to this by promoting mobility, including the construction of numerous bicycle connections and multimodal junctions on the city outskirts of Antwerp.

Lantis strives for operational excellence in order to carry out projects as efficiently as possible and deliver quality. Thanks to intensive cooperation with the surrounding area, the organisation works transparently and with a focus on results. Innovation and transformation ensure future-oriented projects with a lasting impact on the dynamics of the region. This is the Lantis way of successfully realising large projects in an urban environment.

Lantis stands for Liveable Antwerp through Innovation and Cooperation and is a public limited company. The day-to-day management is in the hands of the management committee led by managing director Luc Hellemans. David Van Herreweghe chairs the board of directors.

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As Europe’s second-largest port and largest integrated chemical cluster, the Port of Antwerp Bruges is a major lifeline for the Belgian economy: annually around 238 million tonnes of international maritime freight are handled. The Port of Antwerp Bruges accounts, directly and indirectly, for a total of around 143.000 jobs and more than €20 billion added value.

Innovation and digitisation enable our mission to be ‘a home port for a sustainable future’ as we aim to flexibly respond to a rapidly evolving maritime market. By supporting The Beacon, we want to ensure that our port platform finds relevant points of contact and vice versa. Furthermore, we want to facilitate the exchange effect created through the ecosystem being built around The Beacon.

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The city of Antwerp welcomes businesses, researchers, citizens and city officials to experiment with smart technologies that aim to make urban life more enjoyable and sustainable. Antwerp is a living lab where solutions are tested and co-created with its inhabitants. The city is home to highly innovative businesses and with 171 nationalities that live in Antwerp, it is above all a very diverse, and international city. The Ecosystem in Antwerp is developing rapidly, over the past years the amount of start-ups and scaleups in Antwerp doubled.

Innovative companies are the driving force behind the Antwerp knowledge economy. Their growth is crucial for our future. The City of Antwerp therefore strongly believes in the power of digital networking and is developing an ecosystem for digital innovation in which large and small businesses, startups, scaleups, researchers and capital providers with an interest in the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence can meet each other. Thanks to the cross-pollination that occurs in The Beacon, innovative products are developed that are relevant to Antwerp’s ‘smart city’ ambitions and to our financial stakeholders: industry and logistics.

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The University of Antwerp is a research university where pioneering, innovative research is conducted at an international level. Research and education are closely linked, with 20,000 students and 6000 staff spread across our nine faculties. As a driving force in the Antwerp innovation ecosystem, innovation is a constant focus.

The Beacon is the university’s pioneering pre-incubation structure for the domain of Metropolitanism, Smart City, Mobility & Logistics. It houses the IDLab research group and the Design Sciences Hub.

The IDLab research group of the University of Antwerp and imec performs fundamental and applied research on Wireless technologies, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things. IDLab, headed by prof. Steven Latré, targets the most daunting challenges industry is facing to deliver digital transformation, connecting everything and extracting high value from data. Bringing researchers and industrial partners together at the same location facilitates knowledge transfer and enables the cross-fertilization and co-creation insights on smart cities, IoT and AI towards the industrial partners in The Beacon.

The Design Sciences Hub of the Faculty of Design Sciences is an interdisciplinary innovation and valorization lab. They offer design solutions for urban challenges and wicked problems in the triangle of urban planning, built environment, and urban health.

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Winterfest Start it x The Beacon

The ultimate Christmas get-together before the holidays! Bring your family members along to The Beacon for a cosy evening of yuletide fun. Score unique Christmas gifts made with love by our community members.

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The Argonauts - Design Thinking Course

This interactive and practical course is the perfect introduction to Design Thinking. In 2 days we arm you with all the fundamental knowledge and tools that designers and innovators apply.

- Learn to empathize with your customers, faster and more practically.
- Create clear personas and customer journeys
- Devise and facilitate interactive and inspiring brainstorming sessions yourself

We guide you through a set of tools that will bring you closer to your customer and allow you to react faster to changes in the market.

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COOCK Workshop - Smart Ports

Digital technologies can definitely support the sustainable growth of companies in the port economy. We selected four technologies that are rising steeply, and on which we'll host a discussion between technology providers and port economy companies.

The format of this event is a moderated and dynamic round table, that will be strictly moderated. In one hour time, participants will be informed about the state-of-the-art of the particular technology, and engage in a structural debate. The objective: to define the enablers to make your company future-proof with digital technology.

There are two rounds of four parallel sessions. Every participant can attend two sessions (e.g. AI and cyber security).

The purpose of this event is to raise awareness among port economy companies, but also to capture latent or manifest innovation cases of challenges.

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Data Meetup September - AWS

Build a modern data lake using AWS Glue and Lake Formation (Engels)
Speaker: Brajendra Singh – Senior Solution Architect – AWS
Organisations are breaking down data silos and building petabyte-scale data lakes on AWS to democratise access to thousands of end users. Learn how to use AWS Glue and Lake Formation to build data lake to help businesses navigate data challenges, optimize analytics processes, and deliver insights to the business faster.

Monitoring the Covid pandemic with a modern AWS Cloud Data platform (Nederlands)
Speaker: Thomas De Block – DevOps Engineer – Big Industries
Big Industries helped the Flemish Government design & set up a modern AWS Cloud Data platform to map Covid contamination outbreaks. Thomas De Block tells us how data from hospitals, residential care centers, general practitioners, contact tracing, etc. gives an idea of where and when infections occurred. The new platform also makes it possible to investigate and communicate where the contamination clusters originate.

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28/06 Eco-Driven Innovation

Energy efficiency and material circularity are the new innovation must-haves in the construction industry. How do you encourage productivity growth and digitization speed? How do you make fundamental changes to meet the rising circular demands?

Join us on Tuesday June 28th at 9h30 to get inspired by experts from UAntwerp, Vandersanden, ETAP and Verhaert on how to unleash your sustainability potential.

Program:
- 9h30: Energy-neutral district architecture with Sven Verbruggen (UAntwerp) & Joris De Lamper (Verhaert)
- 10h05: Sustainability in building materials with Maarten Leën (Vandersanden) & Thomas Van Kerkhoven (Verhaert)
- 10h40: The challenges for a profitable circular business model with Dominiek Plancke (ETAP) & David Pas (Verhaert)

📅 June 28th at 9h30 CEST
📌 Online event
👉 verhaert.com/eco-driven-innovation/

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23/06 AIoT Talks

Join us on Thursday, June 23rdh at 15h30 to get inspired by experts from Henkel, TK Home Solutions, Verhaert and Pegus Digital and find out how they overcame their IoT project challenges and how they made their smart products successful.
📅 June 23rd at 15h30 CEST at 📌Verhaert Kruibeke

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Event - ReThinking Newspace

Innovating earth observation starts with improving optics in micro- & nanosatellites, data processing through algorithms and embedded AI. Let's innovate NewSpace and start space commercialization, join ReThinking NewSpace on 29 March organized by @Lambda-X, @VerhaertMastersInInnovation, @VITO & @Aerospacelab. During this webinar their experts will share insights on EO application challenges.
4 sessions, 4 EO challenges 🌏
✔Providing daily global coverage
✔Developing optical designs for micro- & nanosatellites
✔Preserving data quality through in orbit calibration
✔Processing EO data using AI
Register now for this webinar on March 29th!
👉 https://bit.ly/3JS9Qyc

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startups.be / scale-ups.eu - HRTECH.conference

No Monday blues today! 🤩 As you might have heard; following the regulations of the Federal Government, HRTECH.be can welcome up to 500 attendees! 🎉

We can’t wait to welcome you in real life on October 6 & 7, in Handelsbeurs Antwerp. And we are working full force backstage to ensure a spotless experience of interaction, networking and quality content! 💪

👀 See you there?

Tickets & info ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dRFXVT8

Open & Agile Smart Cities - Interactive workshop How can innovation in location services and data e

How can innovation in location services and data ecosystems help transform your city or region?

Join us for an interactive workshop on October 14, during the European Week of Regions and Cities to learn how European cities and regions are using innovative location services and data ecosystems to deliver better local services. We will share the approach and findings from two large projects involving more than 20 European cities. If you’re involved, or interested in data policies, you can’t miss this. Find out more and register via: https://lnkd.in/d7Ecpp_U

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Breakfast Session: Take hold of your future with a Digital Strategy

Take hold of your future with a sound Digital Strategy. And enjoy great breakfast & coffee.
Over dit evenement
A digital strategy is not just about digitisation, it's about unlocking business opportunities in the long term through digitisation.

We look at how we can improve your business today. We strive for a competitive advantage through a better relationship with your clients and partners tomorrow. And with a data-driven strategy we expand your business the day after tomorrow. We’re talking new business, new products and new services. That’s how a digital strategy gears companies up for the future.  

Our co-founder Jannes Van de maele will show you how we develop a sound Digital Strategy that adds business value and always puts the end user first. He will share some secrets about our Lighthouse ideation which is a sure recipe for a new solid working concept. To illustrate, he will touch upon a few cases like; SmartFridge, the connected fridge; Telraam, where we built a device for fine-grained monitoring of traffic and; Remeha, an enterprise platform that allows this heating manufacturer to gain better insights into their end users and consequently adapt their own offering and marketing.

Next, it's up to you. Do you have a pressing question on Digital Strategy? Just reach out to Jannes after the presentation.

Programme:

08:15 - 08:30: Arrive, chat, enjoy a scrumptious breakfast and great coffee from our friendly neighbour Caffenation.

08:30 - 9:30: Presentation by Jannes Van de maele (in Dutch)

9:30 - 10:00: Chat

10:00: This is the end my friend

Can't make it to our Breakfast Session? Then register for our webinar: https://bit.ly/3t2ZDaU

On our co-founder: Jannes has guided many clients towards a digital transformation, big multinationals such as Wienerberger but also small innovative start-ups like Cowboy and June. From taking baby steps like automating a few services to giant leaps such as creating a whole new business model going from selling a product to an as-a-service offering.

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Aloxy - Conference Houston

Next week we will be at the IoT in Oil and Gas Conference in Houston, come and see our disruptive manual valve position sensor on our booth!

We look forward to see you all in Houston.

The Big Score Sessions – apply to pitch

Want to pitch live on stage during one of our eight The Big Score Sessions in 2022? Apply now and maybe you will be one of the 64 startups to present your tech solution towards a live audience of VCs, investors and corporates. The eight sessions will take place during four days, on four different locations, in February and March, 2022. You will be notified in advance if you are selected to pitch.

The Big Score – Nov 30, Dec 1 & 2

Together with our presenting partner VOKA, we are eager to welcome Europe’s finest tech investors, rocket ship scale-ups and corporate pioneers. Our lean and mean format, organisational reputation and elite attendance guarantee deal making and the broadening of your network. Join us LIVE, for Europe’s finest sales and funding gathering in Ghent, Belgium, from November 30 to December 2, 2021.

https://www.thebigscore.eu/?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=The+Beacon+&utm_campaign=Community+Canvas

Go Global Rwanda & Uganda – October 11-16

Discover Africa’s booming tech scenes in Rwanda and Uganda in the framework of the Belgian Digital for Development program. Our Go Global Mission to Rwanda & Uganda, from October 11-16 , 2021, offers you a chance to mingle and collaborate with local business leaders and entrepreneurs who know best what Rwanda and Uganda have to offer for the future of tech development in Africa as well as on a global scale.

https://www.letsgoglobal.be/missions/go-global-rwanda-uganda?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=The+Beacon+&utm_campaign=Community+Canvas

HRTECH.conference – October 7

HRTECH.be is where HR tech solutions, innovations and insights come together with the aim to take a leap forward to HR tech integration. A place where all relevant businesses meet and showcase. Enjoy international keynotes, interesting breakout sessions, and much more, all in the wonderful setting of Handelsbeurs Antwerpen. Get inspired, get connected and be empowered! Be part of the HR tech revolution.

https://hrtech.be/?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=The+Beacon+&utm_campaign=Community+Canvas

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HRTECH.Awards - October 6

Who will become HRTECH.startup of the year? The HRTECH.be jury had the difficult task to deduct a shortlist of 3 HR tech startups; Ambassify, MobieTrain & TechWolf! Cast your vote now for your favorite startup and discover who will take home the award during the HRTECH.gala on Oct. 6!

https://hrtech.be/award?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=The+Beacon+&utm_campaign=Community+Canvas

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