Flanders project funding

€ 3,088,854

€ 2,411,298

€ 643,596

€ 581,250 R&D (VLAIO) #2 € 272,338 Tetra (VLAIO) #2

€ 237,500

€ 26,010

€ 76,127

€ 44,050

€ 178,250

€ 2,690,746

In 2020 the Vrije Universiteit Brussel obtained funding for strategic basic and applied research from the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) for a total budget of € 10.2M, which is an excellent result.

The Strategic Basic Research programme (SBO) concerns innovative research that offers prospects for later economic or social applications. It has been reformed in 2019 and resulted in 2020 in:

• Energy-efficient, Lightweight, safe Yet Strong manipulator Arm (ELYSA) for cobot applications – Bram Vanderborght • Biogas-MAMBO: Enhanced biogas valorization by membrane, adsorption and microbial technologies – Joeri Denayer • iPSC-based parenchymal and sinusoidal liver cell mimics for DILI and NAFLD studies (iPSC-LiMic) – Leo Van Grunsven

• Digital ageing: How seniors can appreciate the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of a digitalizing society – Ignace Glorieux • Towards efficient pillar II and III pension decisions in Belgium: Product innovations, customized goal-based pension planning and nudging – Steven Vanduffel

The Applied Biomedical Research programme (TBM) wants to contribute to the long term implementation of new therapies, diagnostics and prevention methods for which there is not sufficient interest from industry. In 2020 this resulted in 1 approved partner project for VUB with a total budget of € 998,454 (VUB: € 178,250).

• iVision-2 - Game-based adaptive therapy for children with cerebral visual impairment – Bart Jansen

In 2020 2 projects with VUB as research partner were approved for a budget of € 581,250.

These mandates are awarded to doctoral students who wish to perform research with an economic perspective and added value for the company involved. In 2020 4 mandates were approved for a total budget of € 643,596. • Application of Fiber Optic Sensing to enable Optimized Gasket Sustainability – Thomas Geernaert • EEG-based biomarkers for cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment – Sebastiaan Engelborghs • Active clearance control for flow machinery – Svend Bram • A Design Toolkit for Knowledge Physicalisation and Augmentation – Beat Signer

These projects are awarded to university colleges or integrated education in collaboration with the university. In 2020 2 TETRA projects were approved for a budget of € 272,338. • VELCRO - Ontwerp, ontwikkeling en onderhoud van veilige ingebedde apparaten – An Braeken • SAIRE: Smart devices en Artificiële Intelligentie voor Revalidatie – Eva Swinnen

These projects called ‘Collectief O&O en Collectieve Kennisverspreiding (COOCK)’ were introduced by VLAIO in 2018. In 2020 a specific COOCK-Corona call was launched. 1 VUB project was approved for € 26,010. • CONNECT : Multilingual Communication about COVID-19 – Koen Kerremans

This call aims at organizing STEM-experiences for the Flemish youth. In 2020 1 VUB project was approved for € 76,127. • Groeituin 5.0 – Hugo Thienpont

This new call specifically destined to innovative projects in circular building was launched in 2020. 1 VUB project was approved for € 44,050. • Herbronnen – Marijke Huysmans

1 project with VUB as partner was approved and VUB received € 237,500. • CSAI - Cyber Security AI – Johan Loeckx

Spearhead Clusters facilitate a network of companies active in a specific domain. They develop an ambitious long-term strategy and competitiveness programme for Flanders’ strategic domains, in collaboration with knowledge centres and the government. The focus of the Flemish cluster policy lies on a limited number of large-scale and ambitious Spearhead Clusters: Catalisti (sustainable chemistry and synthetics), SIM (materials, circular economy), Flux50 (green energy, mobility), VIL (logistics and transport), Flanders Food (agrofood), Blue Cluster (wind energy, aquaculture) and the most recent one FlandersHealth (healthcare innovation). Different programmes for government funding can be invoked, such as SBO, ICON, R&D-projects or COOCK, and the cluster member companies guarantee 50% co-financing. 8 projects with VUB as research partner were acknowledged for a total budget of € 3,088,854. • Catalisti: MMICAS Multiphase Processing with Microfluidics, Cavitation and Acoustic Streaming – Wim De Malsche • Catalisti-Moonshot: TACBIO: Thermoacidophilic cell factories for innovative biorefinery solutions – Eveline Peeters • Catalisti-Moonshot: Moonrise: Hybrid membrane/sorption technology for more efficient C2 and C3 separations – Joeri Denayer • Catalisti-Moonshot: SYN-CAT: Synergetic design of catalytic materials for integrated photo- and electrochemical CO2 conversion processes – Annick Hubin • Catalisti-Moonshot: Nano-CCU: Novel nanomaterials and nanoarchitectures for CO2 capture and utilization – Joeri Denayer • SIM: PET2VALUE – Lincy Pyl • Intercluster: RAINBOW – Jan Helsen • VIL: PILL Physical Internet Living Lab – Cathy Macharis