The Research & Innovation Department
How can the network of the Scientific Liaison Officers of Wallonia-Brussels International help you?
What is the Research & Innovation Platform?
Who do you contact in Belgium and in foreign countries?
The Research & Innovation Department
The objective of the Research and Innovation (R&I) Department of WBI is to support the internationalisation of the actors of the R&I sector in Wallonia-Brussels by:
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facilitating contacts and cooperation with foreign research and innovation organisations by mobilising the international network of WBI and AWEX (Wallonia Export-Investment Agency);
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coordinating and preparing, at the request of universities, research centres and competitiveness clusters, the scientific and technological components for official Belgian missions (State visits, economic missions);
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reinforcing the presence and visibility of the science and technology ecosystem of Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation in international research programmes and networks;
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negotiating and activating bilateral research agreements in order to support international research and innovation projects as well as to promote the international mobility of researchers;
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undertaking a targeted scientific and technological monitoring to the benefit of the research and innovation ecosystem;
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leading and coordinating the work of the Research and Innovation Platform and the network of scientific liaison officers.
How can the network of the Scientific Liaison Officers of Wallonia-Brussels International help you?
The Research & Innovation department relies upon a network of 6 Scientific Liaison Officers (ALS) who work in innovative ecosystems, renowned for their excellence, in Brazil, Canada, the United States, Germany, Sweden (covering all the Nordic countries) and Switzerland. The ALS assignments include:
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monitoring the research and innovation projects that could benefit our Research and economic operators;
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the organisation of scientific and technological monitoring of projects likely to interest the economic operators;
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the identification of industrial and/or financial partners in order to create R&I partnerships and joint spin-offs;
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the submission of joint research projects to regional, national, European or international authorities;
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assistance in submitting applications to the existing funding systems of foreign partners;
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the organisation of prospecting missions for the promoters of Wallonia-Brussels projects in their country of assignment;
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the promotion and activation of mobility programmes for researchers (excellence and specialisation grants, in particular).
What is the Research & Innovation Platform?
The aim of the Research and Innovation Platform is to promote international cooperation in scientific and technological matters in order to strengthen the visibility of operators active in these fields both in Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
Bringing together the main players in research and innovation in these two entities (universities, competitiveness clusters, science parks and incubators, research centres, agencies and ministries in charge of funding and promoting research, etc.), the Platform is intended to be a forum for exchange where the main common geographical and sectoral priorities are defined in order to identify the synergies involved with internationalisation and to set up joint or coordinated activities.
Who do you contact in Belgium and in foreign countries?
The department in Brussels is the entity responsible for the coordination of research and innovation within Wallonia-Brussels International. It is a focal point for all the institutions and parties involved in research in Wallonia-Brussels.
With its network of excellence in the academic and scientific fields, the Research & Innovation department has the capacity to put together foreign and domestic partners. In addition, it coordinates the Research and Innovation Platform.
- Loïc LEFEVRE - Head of Department
- Sofia MALBEC - Project Manager
- David RAMOS DA SILVA - Project Manager
- Paul HYVERNAT - Communications Officer
- Maddy TIEMBE - Administrative Assistant
The Scientific Liaison Officers (SLOs) support international projects:
- Julie DUMONT - SLO Brazil
- Adrien SELLEZ - SLO Canada
- Mathieu QUINTYN - SLO Germany
- Henri SPRIMONT - SLO Scandinavian Countries
- Vassil KOLAROV - SLO Switzerland
- Maxime VAN CAUTER - SLO USA
