Introduction to iMinds STRATEGY 2012-2016
iMinds, the Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology, is an independent research institution founded by the Flemish government in 2004. Our mission: to create a lasting and positive impact on society through innovation in ICT. This document presents our strategic plan for the period 2012-2016. In developing this plan we incorporated input from a broad selection [...]
Pioneer in demand-driven research
iMinds was founded in 2004 by the Flemish government to stimulate ICT innovation in Flanders. To this end, iMinds has developed a collaborative research approach that has rapidly become a reference for demand-driven research strategies in other sectors. Our main instrument in this regard is ICON—Interdisciplinary Cooperative research, formerly called GBO projects. These are collaborative [...]
Strength through scale
iMinds builds on the excellence of existing scientific research groups within the Flemish universities. In this regard we currently work with more than 1000 researchers from 19 iMinds research groups located within the Flemish universities. iMinds’ organizational model and financial injection have created important multiplication effects in the research groups involved. The critical mass has expanded, [...]
A complete incubation program
Besides collaborating with existing players in the market, it also is critically important to stimulate the creation of new start-ups. To that end, iMinds has developed a comprehensive incubation program to help valorize our research activities in the economy, and to support ICT entrepreneurship in Flanders more generally. The aspirant ICT entrepreneur is coached and [...]
Active communication
Since our goal is to stimulate ICT innovation in the broader economy, the proactive communication of our research projects and their results is core to our mission. To that end we have organized a large number of workshops and events involving a broad representation of economic and societal actors. The yearly Brokerage events, later replaced [...]
ICT – engine of economic growth
When iMinds was created the world was still feeling the aftermath of the internet bubble. Besides the disastrous economic impact on the ICT sector, this global wake up call also created the image of a sector based largely on inflated ambitions. Six years later it is clear that the global impact of the ICT sector [...]
Europe’s innovation deficit
The relative size and R&D intensity of the Belgian and Flemish ICT sector are similar to the European averages. The Belgian ICT sector represents about 4% of GDP and employs approximately 164.000 full time employees. ICT R&D accounts for 6.2% of the sector’s GDP, which is similar to the R&D intensity of the sector at a [...]
European ICT policy
“iMinds is lobbying the commission to speed up the proposed measures for ‘light and fast’ access to EU research funds in ICT, making them more attractive notably to SMEs and young researchers.” Wim De Waele, CEO iMinds The Digital Agenda for Europe is one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Its [...]
Flemish innovation policy
With its strategic plan ViA (Vlaanderen in Actie), Flanders has set itself the goal to become a top 5 player among the European regions by 2020. The idea is to help Flanders progress towards a competitive and multifaceted knowledge economy by boosting innovation, learning and entrepreneurship. iMinds is set to make an important contribution to [...]
Combining research with entrepreneurial focus
“The real barriers for the development of R&D-intensive companies are access to early risk financing, access to risk-taking customers and access to frontier research, specialized know-how and skills. This is why iMinds’ strategy is based on a combination of world-class research excellence with an entrepreneurial and talent-focused approach.” Given the importance of information technology [...]