As the home of numerous organizations, companies and universities with critical roles in this industry, Flanders offers the ideal intersection of expertise, commerce and infrastructure for business insights – and growth – enabled by big data. Find out why.

Imec, Flanders’ strategic research center for nano- and digital technology, is dedicated to help organizations reap the benefits of the digital revolution. In the dawning era of digital business, new technologies and approaches developed at imec enable the hyper-connection of companies, consumers and objects to generate data through interaction.

Intelligent data science is the key to success in today’s digital ecosystem, and imec is the ideal environment for the prototyping, development and testing of new big data applications in real-life environments.

Headquartered in Ghent, VIB works closely with Flanders’ universities to unite the strengths of various research teams into a single institute for life sciences and biotechnology. Bioinformatics is one of VIB’s key areas of expertise, where scientists from universities around Flanders use big data to gain insights into:

• genomics and genetics;
• embryonic development and stem cells;
• cancer growth and tumor environments;
• neurodegenerative diseases;
• developing bioinformatic toolkits for disease therapy;
• protein dynamics;
• and more. 

Flanders’ five universities are internationally-renowned institutes that provide access to all aspects of big data and data sciences talent by offering dedicated education programs. Some of these include:

• Master of Statistical Data Analysis at Ghent University – a one-year advanced program in modern data analysis across all domains;
• Master of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics at KU Leuven – an extensive program covering machine learning, data modeling, privacy and big data analytics programming;
• Master in Computer Science: Data Science at University of Antwerp – a one-year master’s degree program covering all aspects of data science within the framework of computer science;
• Master of Bioinformatics at KU Leuven – a two-year program that hones students’ abilities in managing and analyzing vast quantities of biological data and interpret the results;
• Master in Bioinformatics, at Ghent University – students gain a better understanding of ‘omics’ big data through this one-year program, which is fundamental for biological research, medicine, drug development and agriculture.

Companies setting up or managing their activities or headquarters in Flanders can reap the rewards of:

• various government grants and subsidies for transformation, ecological, R&D and growth investments;
• unique tax incentives for various types of business activities and investments;
• a set of employment subsidies to further reduce your salary costs as well as fiscal remuneration advantages;
• a number of funding options to help you get off the ground.