Past events | Innovation

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.

Get in touch

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.

Get in touch

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.

Get in touch

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.

Get in touch

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.

Get in touch

PortTech Summit by COOCK Smart Port 2025

The Coock Smart Port 2025 project comes to an end. Look back at what we have achieved and let us inspire you for a final time in this setting. We invite you to talk about innovation in the port and network with peers.
PROGRAM
13:00 – 13:30 Doors open
13:30 - 13:45 Welcoming by Bart Verhoeven of imec-IDLab and Robin Pauwels of The Beacon
13:45 - 14:20 Looking back on past projects
POC Albertkanaal by Simon Van den Eynde of Qonic (former imec-IDLab)
POC Wind turbine modellering by Sofie Van Hoecke of imec-IDLab
POC nautical chain optimalisation by Valentin Carlan of University of Antwerp
14:20 - 14:45 Originated COOCK projects from industry
Sergio Barbarino, Senior Director Research Fellow at P&G
Toon Wassenberg, Mobility Advisor at Siemens
14:45 – 16:00 Break
Demo fair & matchmaking through Conversation Starter
16:00 - 16:40 Keynotes
Anne De Beule, Teamlead Intermodal at Haeger & Schmidt Logistics - Sustainability Challenges for Logistics Service Providers
Jef Verbruggen, Product Owner FAST platform at Euronav - The FAST platform and collaboration with ZeroNorth
16:40 - 17:00 Closing word by Erik Mannens of imec-IDLab
Impact of COOCK in numbers
17:00 - 22:00 Networking with walking dinner, drinks and DJ

ABOUT COOCK SMART PORT 2025
This event is organized in the framework of the COOCK Smart Port 2025 project. This three-year program, funded by VLAIO, aims at disseminating the vast knowledge that the University of Antwerp and Imec have in terms of Model-Based Systems Engineering Artificial Intelligence, to the port and logistics community in Flanders. As part of this project, The Beacon is organizing activities and events at which tech companies, port, and logistics operators, and academia are represented.
_ ___________________________________________________________________________________________
LOCATION
Stormkop, Droogdokkenweg 4, 2030 Antwerpen

Lunch & Learn | Finmix

- THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD IN DUTCH -
Schuif mee aan tafel en ontdek hoe jij de beste financieringsmix voor jouw organisatie samenstelt! Op 7 maart hebben The Beacon en Coock Smart Port 2025 A-Chief uitgenodigd om je wegwijs te maken in het subsidielandschap tijdens de lunch. Samen met WinWinner en The Harbour krijg je alle nodige info mee om zelf aan de slag te gaan met het opstellen van een dossier.
Ontdek hier het programma:
PROGRAMMA
12.00 Intro door The Beacon en COOCK Smart Port 2025
12.15 Subsidiemogelijkheden voor elke fase van groei, transformatie en innovatie. Met concrete cases uit de praktijk.
Innovatie
Internationaliseren
Circulair – duurzaam ondernemen
Digitaliseren
Mogelijkheden bij tewerkstelling en investeringen
12.45 The Harbour en Winwinner over crowdfunding en – lending.
13.15 Q&A
Over A-Chief
Bij A-Chief maken we dagelijks ambitieuze ondernemers wegwijs in het subsidielandschap. We detecteren subsidiemogelijkheden, schrijven ijzersterke en onderbouwde subsidiedossiers en ontzorgen van a tot z in de administratie van een subsidietraject. Dit doen we bovendien volgens het ‘no cure, no pay’-principe, zonder opstartkost of dossierfee. Geen subsidie = geen kost.
About Coock Smart Port 2025
This event is organized in the framework of the COOCK Smart Port 2025 project. This three-year program, funded by VLAIO, aims at disseminating the vast knowledge that the University of Antwerp and Imec have in terms of Model-Based Systems Engineering Artificial Intelligence, to the port and logistics community in Flanders. As part of this project, The Beacon is organizing activities and events at which tech companies, port, and logistics operators, and academia are represented.

Digital Tech Career Day

In today's ever-evolving landscape, attracting young talent is crucial. With Digital Tech Career Day, The Beacon collaborates with SINC to link young talent with ambitious and growing technology companies.
We invite students and recent graduates with a background in a tech, IT or digital study program, and welcome them to our headquarters. Here, they will have the opportunity to connect with members of The Beacon Community who can showcase their company.
Event Highlights:
PROGRAM
14:30 - 15:00: WELCOMING - Get to know The Beacon and our building so you know where to find your meeting point.
15:00 - 18:00: JOB FAIR - Engage with young tech talent at your office or booth during the 'Meet and Greet' sessions. Book meetings through Conversation Starter.
18:00 - 22:00: SINC Soiree - Have a drink, exchange ideas, be inspired and broaden your network!*
COMPANIES
Companies that open their doors are:
Marple
Pàu
CBTW - Positive Thinking Company
Bubbly-Doo
Codit
Sparklink
Hyperfox
Dockflow
Shipnext
Arxus
In The Pocket
Inuits
NCS-Systems
...
The list will be updated when new registrations are submitted.

Tech Scoop | Blockchain

Join us at the upcoming edition of Tech Scoop, which will be all about blockchain! Three of our Beacon-members will delve into the transformative potential of blockchain technology, focussing on blockchain applications in enterprise solutions.
Program:
17h45 – Pizza & drinks
18h00 – Koen Vingerhoets, Blockchain Evangelist (Fujitsu) about sustainability, ESG-platform and botanical water
18h30 – Pieter Den Dooven, CIO (mintBlue) about Blockchain Driven Applications
19h00 – Nico Wauters, CEO (T-Mining) about use-cases and lessons learned in port and logistics
19h30 – Q&A and panel discussion
20h00 – Networking & drinks

New Year's Brunch

While sailing into the New Year, we want to invite you to join The Beacon's New Year's Brunch. We want to thank our communitymembers for making The Beacon such a unique and inspiring hub.
📅 Date: Tuesday, January 16th 2024
🕙 Time: join us for one of two brunch slots
08h00 - 09h30
09h30 - 11h00
📍 Location: The Beacon, Amoras
Let us know if you will be there, make sure to register and claim your spot before January 12th. We look forward to seeing you there and to kick off another amazing year together here at The Beacon!

Smart Asset Inspection Demo Day

SAIDD is back! Save the date and pre-register now for the second edition of this inspiring demo day

Tech meets Chem

PROGRAM

09u30-10u00: Welcoming Reception
10u00-10u15: Introduction The Beacon, Catalisti & BlueChem
10u15-11u00: Samplifly Drone Use Case, Seçmen Akbas (BASF), Bert Haemels (SGS), Rayan Quintaes (ADLC)
11u00-11u45: Towards CO2 recycling at Industrial Scale, Gill Scheltjens (D-CRBN)
11u45-13u45: Matchmaking Lunch & Tech Fair, where participants from the chemistry industry can meet technology companies (*)
13u45-14u45: A methodology for AI integration to fine chem & pharma process trains by Prof. dr. M. Enis Leblebici (KUL)
14u45-15u45: Panel Discussion, Chemical Industry Innovation Challenges (Prof. Enis Leblebici (KUL), Gert Pauwels - Head of Innovation (ORANGE), Andre Convents - Innovation Director (P&G), Gijs Vanhoutte, Co-Founder (CHEMINSIGHTS))
15u45-16u00: Closing word by Barbara Veranneman, Director International & Legal Affairs (ESSENSCIA)
16u00-18u00: Networking – Snacks & Drinks

( *) The Beacon, Catalisti and BlueChem Community Members will have the opportunity to present their company and technology at a small trade fair, organized in Amoras. Participants from the chemical industry will receive a booklet displaying all (tech) exhibitors, in order to facilitate matchmaking.

Data-driven port operations | COOCK Smart Port 2025

Join us at COOCK Smart Port 2025 for an exciting in-person event on November 16, 2023, where we dive into data-driven port operations.

Kubernetes Management & Observability | opencloudification

[Webinar] Kubernetes Management & Observability – Open Source Tools & Solutions

Initial Training Program | Cortlex Meetup

Initial Training Program (ITP) by Cortlex

Wireless Community Event

Wireless is the future. From smart buildings and self-driving cars to smart factories and smart cities, …

Lunch & Learn: Smart Mobility for Business

Discover how implement a custom-made mobility plan with Mbrella.

Smart Mobility Day

Embark on a day full of insights around the data strategies within mobility in Belgium and Europe.

The Future of Electric Mobility/Smart Mobility Week

Learn all about loading infrastructure in the city of Antwerp and their perspective of the future of electric mobility.

Slice and strategize

A brainstorm moment for our residents to make The Beacon an even better workplace.

Lunch & Learn

Our regular concept where we introduce our newest members and/or share knowledge amongst the community.

Together we take it to the next level

Missed an event?

Missed an event?

PortTech Summit by COOCK Smart Port 2025

Lunch & Learn | Finmix

Digital Tech Career Day

Tech Scoop | Blockchain

New Year's Brunch

Stay informed!

Smart Asset Inspection Demo Day

Tech meets Chem

Data-driven port operations | COOCK Smart Port 2025

Kubernetes Management & Observability | opencloudification

Initial Training Program | Cortlex Meetup

Wireless Community Event

Stay informed!

Lunch & Learn: Smart Mobility for Business

Smart Mobility Day

The Future of Electric Mobility/Smart Mobility Week

Slice and strategize

Lunch & Learn

PortTech Summit by COOCK Smart Port 2025

Lunch & Learn | Finmix

Digital Tech Career Day

Tech Scoop | Blockchain

New Year's Brunch

Smart Asset Inspection Demo Day

Tech meets Chem

Data-driven port operations | COOCK Smart Port 2025

Kubernetes Management & Observability | opencloudification

Initial Training Program | Cortlex Meetup

Wireless Community Event

Lunch & Learn: Smart Mobility for Business

Smart Mobility Day

The Future of Electric Mobility/Smart Mobility Week

Slice and strategize

Lunch & Learn