Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant

About Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant

Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant is the innovation platform of the Province of Flemish Brabant. It connects companies, knowledge institutions, and public actors to stimulate collaboration, support innovative projects, and strengthen the region’s knowledge economy.

The organization focuses on five strategic sectors: health, food, cleantech, logistics, and creativity. It positions Flemish Brabant as a European hotspot where innovation, economic growth, and societal well-being reinforce one another, while also using the region’s strong research ecosystem and central location in Europe to attract investment and international cooperation.

Core Values

• Collaboration: The organization emphasizes bringing together businesses, knowledge institutions, and public authorities to create stronger innovation projects and lasting partnerships.
• Innovation: Its work centers on developing new technical solutions, supporting experimentation, and helping ideas move toward practical application and market readiness.
• Regional impact: Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant aims to generate economic and societal value for Flemish Brabant, strengthening the province as an entrepreneurial and innovative region.
• International openness: It actively promotes cross-border cooperation and seeks opportunities for local actors in international networks and projects.

Unique Aspects

• Provincial innovation hub: Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant is the innovation arm of the Province of Flemish Brabant, giving it a public mandate to support regional innovation and ecosystem building.
• Five-sector focus: It concentrates on five speerpuntsectoren—health, food, cleantech, logistics, and creativity—allowing it to build sector-specific expertise and networks.
• Strong regional ecosystem: The organization leverages Flemish Brabant’s concentration of universities, research institutes, spin-offs, and companies, especially around Leuven and Brussels Airport.
• International focus regions: Its internationalization work is directed in particular toward Noord-Brabant, Rhein-Neckar, Skåne, the Capital Region of Denmark, and Chengdu.
• Subsidy-backed project pipeline: Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant combines networking, project coaching, and direct financial support, including annual provincial funding for innovation projects.