Organisation

A bottom-up initiative

Flanders Metals Valley is a bottom-up initiative launched by people active in the metallurgical sector in Flanders. The organisation consists of a vast mix of companies active in the metals industry combined with universities and knowledge centres who, while being at the core of ground-breaking research for the future, also want to be relevant to the industry’s challenges of today.

These challenges are becoming more and more important as metals play a key role in today’s energy transition from fossil-based to zero-carbon! Metals are also highly suitable materials to be used for a circular economy as they can be used again and again without deterioration of their quality or durability. They are infinitely recyclable!

By acting as a network, Flanders Metals Valley and its members stand strong to tackle opportunities and become a point of attraction for the circular metals industry. By working as a group and communicating together, the closed loop of metals becomes more efficient and we can jointly develop solutions within our network for particular material streams that would otherwise leave the region and Europe. Joint research efforts originate from joint interests, which are tackled in our 3 working groups: Innovation, Communication and Education.

Driven by the industry

The focus of Flanders Metals Valley lies on the complete circular chain of metals with all parties involved, going from metal producing companies to metal processing companies, the manufacturers of products and the companies active in collecting, recycling and remanufacturing scrap who make sure these metals are once again used and are kept in the circle.

Flanders Metals Valley focuses on very concrete topics and concerns in the evolution towards its goal of a climate-neutral circular industry. It is the role of the industrial partners to deliver these topics and evaluate the relevance of proposed actions.

Actions and initiatives taken must be concrete and bring tangible results. Most actions will be carried out directly by Flanders Metals Valley members.

Some issues may already be tackled in large consortia or research programs. Flanders Metals Valley will not be the vehicle for this type of subsidized projects, but our organisation can be a door for its members to get to know and join existing programs. Topics raised in Flanders Metals Valley may be the motivation to start a joint research project. We will not be funding this project but will direct the members towards existing funding mechanisms and can actively participate to a project to assure the the dissemination of the knowledge.

Flanders Metals Valley is growing day by day and further filling in the gaps in the circular metals chain. Have a look at our active members here under. Each member has a company page with which can be accessed by clicking on their logo.