Flanders Make

Flanders Make
Name	Flanders Make
Formation	2014
Type	Research Centre
Headquarters	Lommel, Belgium
Region served	Flanders
Leader title	CEO

Flanders Make is a strategic research center specializing in advanced manufacturing, applied artificial intelligence, mechatronics, and systems engineering for the automotive, aerospace, machinery, and logistics sectors. It supports technology transfer, product development, and competitiveness through collaborative research, prototyping, and validation activities involving industry partners, universities, and public authorities. Flanders Make operates multiple labs and pilot lines, linking applied research with industrial deployment and regional innovation ecosystems.

History

Flanders Make was established in 2014 amid regional initiatives to strengthen links between industry clusters such as Agoria, Flemish Government, Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek, and academic institutions including KU Leuven, Ghent University, and University of Antwerp. Early milestones included partnerships with industrial players like Volvo, Magneti Marelli, John Deere, Toyota, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG to accelerate research in electrification, Bosch, Denso, Siemens, and digitalization. The center expanded its remit through collaborations with European projects under frameworks associated with Horizon 2020, European Commission, and initiatives linked to VLAIO and Innoviris. Flanders Make's growth paralleled developments at research hubs such as Interreg, EIT Manufacturing, European Institute of Innovation and Technology, and bilateral programs involving Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and Vinnova.

Organization and Governance

Governance is structured to integrate stakeholders from industry, academia, and public institutions including representatives from Imec, Sirris, Universiteit Hasselt, and regional development agencies like Flanders Investment & Trade. A supervisory board includes delegates from multinational firms such as Caterpillar, ArcelorMittal, Schneider Electric, Aptiv, and representatives of trade associations including Agoria and chambers such as Voka. Executive leadership coordinates with program managers who liaise with research groups at Universiteit Gent, KU Leuven Campus Kulak, and technology transfer offices like imec.xpand. Internal units collaborate with certification bodies and standards organizations, including ISO, IEC, and European networks such as Eureka.

Research and Innovation Activities

Research themes encompass applied artificial intelligence for predictive maintenance, model-based systems engineering, control systems for electric vehicles, and advanced materials for lightweight structures. Projects have targeted sectors served by firms like Porsche, Audi, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Renault. Collaborative programs link to laboratories at MIT, Fraunhofer Society, Max Planck Society, CERN, and TNO, exchanging methodologies in systems integration, sensor fusion, and cyber-physical systems. Research outputs include digital twins, closed-loop control algorithms, condition monitoring platforms, and mechatronic prototypes used by partners such as Bosch Rexroth, Continental AG, Valeo, and Magneti Marelli. The center participates in consortia with Airbus, Safran, Thales, and Rolls-Royce Holdings on propulsion and reliability, and engages with standards work undertaken by ETSI and CEN.

Partnerships and Industry Programs

Flanders Make runs industry-facing programs and innovation trajectories with membership schemes involving OEMs and suppliers including Dana Incorporated, Lear Corporation, Faurecia, Delphi Technologies, and Mahle. It orchestrates multi-party initiatives with research-intensive universities such as Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Delft University of Technology, and RWTH Aachen University. International partnerships include collaborative projects with Toyota Research Institute, Ford Research Laboratory, BMW Group Research, and alliances across regional clusters such as Catalonia Aerospace Cluster and Silicon Saxony. Programs align with procurement and policy frameworks linked to European Investment Bank initiatives and regional development funds administered by European Regional Development Fund and Belgian Federal Science Policy Office.

Facilities and Technology Centers

Facilities include modular testbeds, hardware-in-the-loop rigs, battery test laboratories, and wind tunnel or vibration chambers comparable to labs at Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials, VITO, TNO Automotive, and IPG Automotive. Technology centers host mechatronics workshops, additive manufacturing cells, sensor labs, and embedded software clusters used by partners such as 3M, Hexagon AB, ABB, Emerson Electric, and Rockwell Automation. Demonstration sites and pilot lines are located near industrial hubs like Limburg (Belgium), Antwerp Port, and Ostend, enabling integration with logistics nodes such as Port of Antwerp-Bruges and aerospace sites like Brussels Airport.

Funding and Economic Impact

Funding derives from a mixture of public grants from bodies such as Flemish Government, European Commission, VLAIO, and co-funding by member companies including Caterpillar, Volvo Group, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Bosch, and Siemens. Project funding also channels through competitive mechanisms like Horizon Europe and regional instruments administered by European Regional Development Fund. Economic impact assessments reference job creation in manufacturing clusters, productivity gains for partners including John Deere and ArcelorMittal, and export growth tied to innovation diffusion across supply chains linking to markets represented by SMMT, ACEA, and multinational purchasers like Amazon and Maersk. Strategic investments support scale-up, spin-out firms, and technology transfer facilitated by incubators and accelerators such as Start it @KBC and Imec.istart.

Category:Research institutes in Belgium