Flemish Brabant Promised Land for Smart Logistics 1 Contents Innovation fuels economic development 1 Strong together 2 Flemish Brabant as a Logistics Hub 3 Flemish Brabant, the smart region 10 Flemish Brabant, the province that boosts innovation 13 Flemish Brabant as a Smart Hub: the promised land for smart logistics 15 Organisations actively involved within (innovative) logistics and mobility 32 Knowledge institutes with in-depth research on logistics and mobility 33 Flemish Brabant: more than just a logistics hotspot! 37 Flemish Brabant: think Smart, act Hub 39 Contact 40 Colophon 41 Innovation fuels economic development… Jean-Paul Olbrechts, economic representative province of Flemish Brabant In Flemish Brabant, we are absolutely convinced of that statement. Plenty of assets account the social and technological evolutions, and what role can Flemish Brabant all over our province prove our point, starting with the know-ledge region around play therein? What is our (current or future) level of strength on a European or Leuven, the association with healthcare (UZ Leuven), and the world-renown global scale? What type of research is being done in our knowledge institutes, research centre, imec. In recent years, this region has evolved into a unique myriad which companies are actively involved, how can industrial actors in Flemish Bra- of knowledge institutes as well as “knowhow”-driven private companies. The pres- bant make an optimal use of the innovation potential available? ence of an international airport and the good coverage by the logistics sector in the county of Halle Vilvoorde perfectly complements the role of the VUB, together Through a selection and analysis processes, we can boost innovation by gather- with its associate partners Erasmushogeschool Brussels and AZ Jette (Academic ing together the ideal parties involved and having them start concrete innovation Healthcare Facility), as a Flemish knowledge pool in the Brussels region. trails. Our guiding principle is the “triple helix”: knowledge institutes, industry and The added value for the regional development of our province lies in the synergies the government join forces to build Flanders and Flemish Brabant up as a leading and interactions between the aforementioned assets. knowledge region. Flanders Smart Hub is the most active player on behalf of the province of Flemish The province wants to foster this and, in its role as director and pioneer, give the Brabant, with a broad partnership behind it. As a province, we recognised the largest possible boost to innovation. The aim is for the province of Flemish Brabant importance of this approach and committed ourselves even further to this in- to further excel as a top end technological knowledge (knowhow) region, with novation platform. an emphasis on “smart logistics”, healthcare (including healthy food and nutrition), high-tech systems, cleantech, nanotechnology and nanoelectronics. The first cluster we have put in the picture recently is the “logistech-cluster”. This brochure constitutes the first result of their initial findings. A great deal of attention goes to the business application, the so-called “valorisa- We hope it provides new impulses for innovation in this sector and leads to an tion” and marketing of the expertise and knowhow developed in our province. optimal valorisation of the knowhow and expertise available in our province. This seems to become the proverbial “bottleneck” in many cases. How are we going to tackle this? How do we render innovation tangible? How do we route new promising innovations from their conception to the concrete appli- cations and the finished products with important economic potential and impact? Jean-Paul Olbrechts, The first steps are the follow-up, monitoring and steering of the innovation scen- economic representative ery. What is at the forefront of todays’ and tomorrows’ technologies, taking into province of Flemish Brabant 1 Ingrid Lieten, Vice-Minister-President of the Government of Flanders and Flemish Minister for Innovation, Public Investment, Strong together Media and Poverty Reduction Logistics and mobility are extremely important to Flanders. To perpetuate and enhance Flanders’ position as an excellent logistics region, it is important to main- tain our investments in logistics and mobility. Training and innovation are deciding factors. Innovation in logistics will certainly not limit itself to a mere technological innovation. Process innovation and innovation in the field of labour organisation are going to be of key importance. There are many organisations actively involved in logistics and mobility. Better and more intense cooperation between the different actors is what I personally deem extremely important. As a minister in charge of the “competence centres”, I initiated the streamlining of this cooperation. This cooperation is essential to avoid duplication and to safeguard the efficient use of public funds. An initiative such as Flanders Smart Hub can play a prominent role in boosting both innovation and cooperation between different organisations. On this brochure: In the first chapter, we create a picture of the logistics sector in Flemish Brabant today. our province. The final chapter is a summarisation of the aforementioned components, With up-to-date figures and data (most recently made available at the time), this where industries, knowledge institutes and government organisations elaborate on how publication should reflect the present situation as accurately as possible. each of them has an innovative angle for making logistics smart. In the second chapter, our focus will be on the knowledge component of the region; Our sincere thanks obviously go to any contributor to this brochure! and in a third chapter, you will learn more about the support for innovation available in 2 Strong together Flemish Brabant as a Logistics Hub Capital economic value in Flanders The logistics sector is an important economic industry in Belgium, Flanders and It is only logical that Flanders, within the regeneration project “ViA 2020” - “Vlaan- the province of Flemish Brabant. According to a study of the National Bank of deren in Actie” (that aims to turn Flanders into a leading region within Europe by Belgium (based on figures 2008), the logistics sector accounts for 8% of the total 2020), wants to develop itself into the “Smart transit point in Europe”. This entails: prosperity (GNP or Gross National Product) and contributes in the same propor- “Flanders strives through its productivity and cost efficiency to become the most tion (8%) to the total employment in Belgium. attractive region for logistics in Europe. Through optimal accessibility and our peo- ple’s skills, know-how, expertise and drive to innovate, we will sustainably create high added value and prosperity for the economy and the community”. To realise this ambitious goal, the Government of Flanders created “Flanders Logistics”. Flanders Logistics is an initiative that strives towards the development of several subdomains of the logistics sector: Added value Added value Employment % of total (% of GNP) (in MEUR) employment Flanders Port Area (FPA) (Ports), in Belgium Flanders Inland Shipping Network (FISN) (Inland navigation), Flanders Air transport Network (FAN) (Airports), Direct 3,1 9296 130.000 3,4 Indirect 1,9 5885 70.000 1,9 Taskforce Flanders Land Logistics (TFLL) (Road- and process logistics). Other 2,9 8559 100.000 2,7 Total 7,9 23741 300,000 8,0 Flemish Brabant plays an important role in these initiatives, putting in all its assets to help shape Flanders’ ambition. Within the University of Antwerp, the “Steun- Direct: Transport companies, logistics punt Goederenstromen” (Research Centre Commodity Flows) is a knowledge service providers, handlers, freight centre giving academic support to the initiative. forwarders, terminal operators, etc. Indirect: incl. ICT providers on behalf of direct logistic activities Overig: industrial shippers 1 Vlaanderen in actie - Doorbraken 2020” - januari 2009 - Vlaamse Overheid, pag. 73 aanpassen 3 The world within easy reach Distribution logistics Not only is the province of Flemish Brabant located in the heart of the “Blue Banana” area that comprises most of the European regions, from which, at favour- able transport rates under workable lead times (24/48 hrs.), the largest part of Europe can be reached - it is equally centrally located between major consumer markets in Europe, namely the Randstad in the Netherlands, the Ruhr area in And meanwhile in Flemish Brabant… Germany, the Flemish Diamond, Ile-de-France in France and the London Met- ropolitan Area in the United Kingdom. + KAART Blauwe Banaan (copyright @ Cushman&Wakefield). The logistics sector in Flemish Brabant is focused on activities with a high added value and many supporting activities. In 2005, the logistics sector accounted for a share of 9.23% in the employment figures of Flemish Brabant. Comparing this percentage with an average share of 6.64% at the entire Flemish Region level, we can conclude that the sector is strongly represented in Flemish Brabant. Moreover, thanks to the presence of the Brussels Airport, the logistics sector in Flemish Brabant accounts for 16% of the total added value in logistics in Flanders. This is confirmed, among other things, by the number of FTEs actively working at Brussels Airport: direct employment in 2008 was good for 19.905 FTEs. Indirect employment in the airport generates another 19.732 FTEs. Activities at the airport are a boost to the level of