"In 2005, Flanders’ FOOD started with 20 founding members, all of whom are food processors,” says Business Development & Internationalization Manager Veerle Rijckaert. “Today, we have a network of almost 300 companies and our member portfolio represents the entire agri-food system. Most are still food producers, though, from small SMEs to multinationals with factories in Flanders.”
“But the suppliers are also well represented within the network,” Veerle adds, “as are other sectors that work closely with the food sector: retailers, machine builders, maintenance companies, software and automation specialists, and so on. Finally, various knowledge institutions take part in the cluster operation as well. Think of universities such as UGent, KU Leuven and VUB, alongside research institutes including ILVO and imec.”