Belgian innovation is more alive than ever at Antwerp Expo

After a two-year absence, Advanced Engineering closes the doors on a top edition. 

The Belgian manufacturing industry had to wait two years for it, but on May 11 and 12 its patience was amply rewarded. Advanced Engineering had a strong two-day event at Antwerp Expo and that will even be followed up: next year, the innovation fair will once again draw a presence in innovation city Antwerp. 

After two editions in Ghent, Advanced Engineering descended on innovation city Antwerp for the first time. It is the trade fair for everyone aware of the impact of product innovation with a focus on themes such as 3D printing, AI, VR and AR, but also design, materials and electronics. More than 140 exhibitors shared their innovative solutions and techniques with the public for two days.

Technology and/or people

On the final day of the fair, Prof. Jan Rabaey took the floor. The professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley flew over from Silicon Valley to share his expertise.
"You can't predict the future, but you can imagine it and incrementally come up with technological solutions to make that future real," he told me. "There is still a significant gap between what our brains can do and what is possible in the electronic world, but we are innovating at lightning speed and taking great strides forward. Still, I am convinced that our business world and industry will always lean on both brains and computers."

Both will therefore have to reinforce each other, and that is also the focus of the Living Lab Industrie 4.0 'Technology for Workable Work'. This is a project of Flanders Make, imec, Sirris and KU Leuven via VLAIO.

"The goal is to use industry 4.0 technology to address workloads in companies. With innovative technologies such as digital work instructions, virtual reality, cobots and exo-skeletons, we want to improve workability, keep more people employed and integrate the unemployed into the tight labor market," said Sonia Vanderlinden, coordinator of the Living Lab project.

On to 2023

"You could feel from everything that both exhibitors and visitors were extremely happy that this fair could take place again. Moreover, in terms of visitor numbers, we maintained the same trend of two years ago with another strong turnout. After Ghent, Antwerp has also clearly embraced the innovation fair. Reason enough for Advanced Engineering to continue next year," explains Jeroen Arnouts, Head of Events for Advanced Engineering at Easyfairs.

So mark it down in your agenda: on May 24 and 25, 2023, Advanced Engineering will once again descend on Antwerp Expo.