LONDON 01:10 AMSTERDAM 00:45 ALL ROADS LEAD TO BRUSSELS GERMANY Located at the heart of Europe, Brussels is one of the most acces- THE NETHERLANDS sible capitals on the European continent. Thanks to its dense and outstanding transportation infrastructure, Belgium offers fast con- ZEEBRUGGE nections to locations all over Europe by air, sea or land. Travelling ANTWERP to major commercial and industrial centers, including London, Pa- ris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, takes less than two hours. CENTRAL LOCATION WITH PRIME INFRASTRUCTURE CENTRAL LOCATION FRANKFURT GHENT 00:55 The seaports of Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Ghent and Ostend are the perfect ocean-going gateways for the fast handling of goods to and CENTRAL BRUSSELS from anywhere in the world. The inland ports of Liège and Brus- sels are well connected via a dense network of navigable waterways. LIÈGE Liège is the third largest inland port in Europe and has direct links to Antwerp and Rotterdam via its canals. CHARLEROI LOCATION Brussels is included in Europe’s high-speed train network and of- FRANCE fers connections to 19 major cities, including Paris, London, Am- PARIS sterdam, Lille and Cologne. The Eurostar railway service through 00:55 INVEST IN BELGIUM the Channel Tunnel, for instance, enables smooth contacts bet- WITH PRIME ween London and Brussels. Home is never far away with frequent direct flights from Brussels LUXEMBOURG to all European capitals and second-tier cities. Brussels Airport is located 12 km (8 miles) north-east of Brussels’ city center and INFRASTRUCTURE the European Quarter, and is easily accessible via a direct train connection. Frequent flights are also offered by several operators at Antwerp Airport. Brussels South Charleroi Airport has daily connections to LONDON PARIS AMSTERDAM FRANKFURT all over Europe and beyond and is easily accessible from anywhere 02:00 01:22 01:50 03:09 in Belgium. Liège Airport fo- cusses mainly on air freight. It is the 8th bussiest cargo airport in Europe. 02 03 INTERNATIONAL DECISION CENTER Belgium is home to a unique concentration of decision-makers who DIRECT FLIGHTS DEPARTING shape the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Brussels FROM BRUSSELS TO EU MEMBER STATES hosts the most important European institutions, NATO, professio- nal federations, corporate headquarters and civil society organizations. Frequency (daily average 2018) 181 diplomatic missions, representative offices of some 200 regions 9 Madrid and cities, 1,750 non-governmental organizations, 20,000 lobbyists 8 Lisbon and the world´s largest press corps, with some 1,200 accredited jour- 8 London nalists are all based in Brussels. 7 Rome 7 Vienna 6 Copenhagen 6 Stockholm CENTRAL LOCATION WITH PRIME INFRASTRUCTURE CENTRAL LOCATION 5 Amsterdam 5 DIRECT FLIGHTS DEPARTING Dublin FROM BRUSSELS TO IMPORTANT 5 Warsaw DESTINATIONS WORLDWIDE 4 Berlin Frequency (daily average 2018) 3 Athens 3 Budapest 7 Geneva 3 Paris 5 Tel Aviv 3 Prague 3 New York 3 La Valetta 2 Dubai 3 Zagreb 2 Washington 2 Bucharest 2 Montreal INVEST IN BELGIUM 2 Helsinki 2 Shanghai 2 Ljubljana 2 Shenzhen 2 Riga 1 Bejing 2 Tallinn 1 Tokyo 1 Larnaca 1 Hong Kong 1 Sofia 1 Toronto 1 Abu Dhabi © Belgaimage 1 Doha DIRECT TRAIN CONNECTIONS DEPARTING FROM BRUSSELS Brussels is often dubbed (THALYS-EUROSTAR) the capital of standards Frequency (daily average 2018) for Europe, setting standards 19 Paris and establishing safeguards 16 Amsterdam for the single, biggest market 9 London 5 Cologne in the world. © Brussels Airlines 04 05 DIGITAL BELGIUM Belgium offers a fast, secure and reliable IT infrastructure providing the ideal CONNECTIVITY (DESI 2017) backbone for the operations of any company. Broadband fiber optic internet and secure servers are widely available, providing secure cloud solutions and collabo- Belgium is a strong performer in fixed connectivity. rative computing. In the European Commission’s 2017 Digital Economy and So- Fast broadband is available almost everywhere and ciety Index (DESI), Belgium ranks third in terms of connectivity. With 99% of 81% of all subscriptions are at least 30Mbps. The households covered, Belgium ranks second in the EU when it comes to broadband connectivity dimension measures the deployment of coverage. Overall, Belgium is one of the top six countries in the 2017 Digital Eco- broadband infrastructure and its quality. Access to nomy and Society Index, well above the EU average. fast broadband-enabled services is a necessary con- dition for competitiveness. Moreover, the federal government’s ‘Digital Belgium’ policy aims to stimulate the roll-out of ultrafast internet in Belgium. Mobile broadband technologies, such as Google Data Center 4G and LTE Advanced, are scheduled to be rolled out very soon across the entire WITH PRIME INFRASTRUCTURE CENTRAL LOCATION in Saint-Ghislain (Belgium) Belgian territory and a high-performance 5G framework will be installed to en- sure Belgium is at the forefront of Internet-of-Things developments. According to ‘Digitizing Europe’ – a study by The Boston Consulting Group (US) and Ame- rican internet giant Google – Belgium is set to get the most out of the European Digital Single Market plan, which aims for a unified digital market across Europe. The report labels Belgium as a digital frontrunner in Europe. Even among its high-tech peers, the country has the most potential for growth, thanks to its high degree of digitization and a small market. When the Digital Single Market plan becomes a reality, Belgium’s digital GDP (eGDP) is projected to increase by more than 12%. INVEST IN BELGIUM Belgium ranks 10th in the 2018-2022 Technological Readiness ranking of the Economist Intelligence Unit, which assesses how well prepared countries are for technological change, across three key categories: access to the internet, digital economy infrastructure and openness to innovation. Belgium ranks 6th in the Digital Economy INTEGRATION OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY (DESI 2017) and Society Index 2017. Belgian businesses use digital technologies to improve productivity Belgium ranks 3rd and sales and are doing well in integrating digital technology, where Belgium ranks 5th. The Integration of Digital Technology dimensi- in connectivity and on measures the digitization of businesses and their exploitation of 5th in integration the online sales channel. By adopting digital technology, businesses of digital technology can enhance efficiency, reduce costs and better engage customers, collaborators and business partners. Furthermore, the internet as a by businesses. sales outlet offers access to wider markets and potential for growth. © Google 06 07 Square Brussels Convention Centre CENTRAL LOCATION WITH PRIME INFRASTRUCTURE CENTRAL LOCATION HIGH-END CONFERENCE VENUES AND COMMODIOUS HOTEL ROOMS The city is home to more than 120 international government organizations, 181 embassies, over 5,000 diplomats and more than 1,000 lobby groups. This international presence combined with Belgium’s first-rate location and accessibility at the heart of Europe, makes it the leading European conference destination. According to the Union of International Associations’ Conference Cities Ranking 2016, Brussels ranks INVEST IN BELGIUM first worldwide as conference city. Hotels in Belgium range from international branded hotels to several family-owned boutique hotels. Price levels are lower than in comparable European cities. 08 09 © Belgaimage INVEST IN BELGIUM INFRASTRUCTURE WORLD-CLASS R&D have theiroperations inBelgium. have companies innovative many Asaresult, academiaandgovernment. industry, innovationandcollaboration between ranks Belgiumatthetopfor R&D, Report GlobalCompetitiveness of2016-2017 Forum’s World Economic The ventures. the availability fiscal andattractive for R&D incentives ofskilled workers high qualityto the thanks facilities, educationalof its systemand research performer Belgiumisastrong inR&Dandinnovation, Within theEU, medtech andmore. agriculture, automotive, microelectronics, including health, technologies inawiderangeofsectors, ofrobotics integration and production inthedevelopment, theway Belgium leads asingly intertwined withourlives. incre become asrobots oftheeconomy faster thantherest thesectorisexpectedtogrow Asaresult, zed useofresources. cutcostsandenableoptimi boostproductivity, robots tasks, andidealfor hazardous Precise work. changing we theway robots oftomorrow, As key enablersofthecommerce ROBOTICS INBELGIUM 10 are are - - REP. OF KOREA 631 SINGAPORE 488 GERMANY 309 JAPAN 303 SWEDEN 223 DENMARK 211 USA 189 ITALY 185 BELGIUM 184 TAIWAN 177 AVERAGE 74 ROBOTS PER10,000EMPLOYEESIN HIGHEST NUMBEROFINDUSTRIAL 11 THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY THE MANUFACTURING TOP 10COUNTRIESWITHTHE World Robotics Report 2017 Report Robotics World WORLD-CLASS R&D INFRASTRUCTURE R&D WORLD-CLASS INVESTING BELGIAN R&D CENTER R&D PROJECT Tax rulings for contract R&D Tax rulings for commercialization IP R&D INTELLECTUAL STAFF PROPERTY THE RANKINGS ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE THE RANKINGS TELL FAVOURABLE80% payroll tax exemption TAX REGIME FOR R&D Tax rulings for THE TALE, AS BELGIUM IS: for R&D-workers TELL THE ACTIVITIESTALE, contract R&D Tax-free innovation premium AS BELGIUM IS: Tax rulings for Special tax status for foreign commercialization IP Belgium´s universities are among the world’s most Belgium’sexecutives flourishing and researchers innovation industry is buttressed by a favorable tax regime. According to the innovative. Belgium has seven academic institutions st th 1 In Europe for cooperation OECD,R&D the Belgian tax package4 Highest-scoring for R&D ranked