Research
Our research
Our research serves one overall purpose: supporting product and production innovation within the Flemish manufacturing industry. That's why we perform industry-driven, pre-competitive technological research into the vehicles, machines and factories of tomorrow. As such, we stimulate the digital transformation of our companies – big and small.
Initially, this research leads to actual applications for companies (innovation leaders) participating in the research project. Next, we also share results with the rest of the industry so that innovation followers can make the transition to Industry 4.0 as well.
This is how our research strengthens the competitiveness of the entire industry.
We are currently working on hundreds of research projects. Keep an eye on our open calls to join new research projects.
Types of research
Within Flanders Make we conduct different types of research. Do you want to know more about IRVA, SBO, COOCK or TETRA research?
Three competence domains for successful digital transformation
Flanders Make’s expertise focuses on three domains. In each single one of them, modelling and virtualisation play an important part. These three domains have been translated into competence clusters in which companies, other research institutions and knowledge centres work together. To each of these competence clusters, a number of core labs have been assigned that perform concrete research projects.
On our yearly Symposium, we showcase the latest innovations that we developed throughout the year. Discover them here.
End-to-end design operation
Demand for customised production is rising dramatically, and introducing a single product to market is no longer enough. Using model-based design methods and supporting software, we help developers improve the increasingly-complex design process. An entire product family is expected from the outset. This is only possible if the design process is aligned accordingly, right from the very first phase. After all, the further you are into the design process, the more expensive and time-consuming it is to implement any changes.
Specific tools give designers near-instant insight into the different possible concepts and optimal design choices. We also offer support for production environments, in which we take the impact of production on the design into account.
Production
We support businesses in their digital transformation to become ‘factories for the future’. To satisfy increasing demand for quality, personalised products at the cost price of mass production, and taking into account high wage costs as well as the ageing population in Western Europe, we’re focused on getting smart machines and people to work together. To achieve this, we perform research into flexible assembly units that can cope with multiple product variations.
People continue to play a key role in the modern production environment, but are supported by robots for specific tasks. This interaction is a must for any factory that wants to survive tomorrow and ensure the work continues to be manageable.
MOTION PRODUCTS
Many companies in Flanders work around products with a motion component such as vehicles and machines. We apply this competence to help them develop new ‘future-proof’ products which are smart, automatically adapt to the environment to provide optimal performance, and use digital, Industry 4.0 technology.
The focus is on the architecture and the validation of systems, as well as the combination of autonomy and automation (autonomation) for professional applications. For businesses, this leads to improved, better-performing products that last longer and deliver better quality.