Foreword By Wim De Waele, CEO, iMinds


if one considers how pervasive it has become. With 3 billion people connected,


T devices and platforms distributing


imes have never been more exciting in our digital industry than they are today; digital technology has become


a true enabler economic growth. It of societal change is hard to believe that the industry fuelled by the Internet is only 25 years old


our industry has become truly global – with multiple and generating


enormous


amounts of data. That is the playing field of iMinds. iMinds is Flanders’ digital


research and entrepreneurship hub. Every day, companies and non- profit organisations leverage the know-how and experience of our 800+ researchers at five Flemish universities. As such, we help them develop products and services


that have the potential to


impact profoundly on the way we live and work – both in Flanders, in Europe and far beyond. Additionally, we help researchers and young entrepreneurs successfully bring their ideas to the market. iMinds has always been a strong believer in the value of


connecting people and ideas.


Therefore, to mark our annual industry event – iMinds The Conference – I wanted to briefly dwell on some major industry trends and on how iMinds’ research expertise ties into those. We are seeing many of our research activities


and


cryptography, distributed systems and cloud computing but we also have legal and communication scientists on board, who can deal with policy-making and societal implications in this field. It is a skill set that will be in huge demand over the coming years as cloud computing conquers the industry. But there is so much more to iMinds than basic research. We


“iMinds has always been a strong


now becoming ready for widespread adoption. Our Future Internet department, for instance, has built up tremendous knowledge on the Internet of Things (or the ‘Internet of Everything’ as some people now call it) with possible application areas being smart grids, healthcare, smart cities and manufacturing. Analytics and data management, now commonly referred to as Big


Data, have always been a further focus area for our researchers. In healthcare, for instance, they are working on data analytics approaches that hold the promise of revolutionising the process of drug discovery. Other


iMinds research groups are the semantic web, and the results of our research on


people and ideas” quality coaching


strongly believe in the value of an ecosystem that brings together all actors active in the field of innovation. That is how we structured iMinds The Conference; Flemish SMEs as well as multinationals sharing their perspectives on how to translate research into innovative products and services. Moreover, the exhibition floor contains more than 40 showcases of collaborative research projects that have already translated into tangible results and proofs-of- concept. We obviously rely on our industrial project partners to take project outcomes to the market, and I am happy to see – through project testimonials – that this actually happening. The fact


is that a


believer in the value of connecting


number of companies are entering into longer-term strategic relationships with iMinds testifies to the value of these collaborations. Start-ups are another strategic component of


our ecosystem. Our


incubation and acceleration team has experienced a real boost in the number of requests over the last years. This is due


to increasing awareness and tailor-made programmes in the


start-up community that iMinds offers for aspiring


focusing on


innovative solutions that enable policy-makers to control the cost of our healthcare systems. Our media researchers are working on the future of


audiovisual storage and retrieval have led to the creation of VIAA, the Flemish Institute for (Audiovisual) Archiving. Security and privacy are two other hot topics. People are becoming


more aware of the impact and value of the data they share through social networks and other online channels.


In this discussion,


which has been overshadowed recently by the NSA revelations, we need to find a delicate balance between privacy and progress through better data-driven decision-making. iMinds has a strong security department with internationally recognised expertise in


entrepreneurs. The surge of interest in our incubation programme has led to the creation of many new companies and we intend to do all we can to help them in their ambitions towards global leadership in their domain. In an Economist article of 2011, I read the following quote: “For Europe to become truly successful in technology it will have to adapt an entrepreneurial culture similar to Silicon Valley”. I think we are making good progress on this in Flanders! In this global industry, however, we cannot confine ourselves to our


Flemish region. Next year, iMinds will celebrate its 10th birthday giving us the chance to reflect on our contribution to Flemish industry and the Flemish economy, and the successful partnerships we have made with companies and non-profit organisations. But it will also be a moment to reflect on iMinds’ international presence – ensuring our research is globally relevant and building a network of international partners in research and incubation to support these global ambitions. Moving this year’s conference to Brussels, away from my beloved hometown of Ghent,


is further proof of our European and global


ambition – an ambition always driven by the fact that there is more than enough talent in Flanders to make our mark on the world!


www.projectsmagazine.eu.com


7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68