It’s official: Flanders Cleantech Association (FCA) has reached a structural collaboration agreement with Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT), Flanders’ agency for international enterprise.

The agreement was signed on 3 October 2017 by Carine Van Hove, Managing Director at FCA and Claire Tillekaerts, CEO at FIT, during an official ceremony at the Hotel Errera in Brussels. Flanders’ Minister-President Geert Bourgeois also attended the ceremony, formally sealing the reinforced collaboration. This partnership is embedded within ‘Vlaanderen versnelt!’ (‘Flanders accelerates!’), Flanders’ internationalisation strategy.

FCA and FIT will work closely together to support the internationalization plans of Flanders-based businesses even better and in a more streamlined way. This will be done, among other things, by actively supporting international B2B matchmaking in the field of Cleantech and by setting up international mentorship projects, where large companies guide SME’s in setting up a framework for their international endeavors.  For FCA this is particularly interesting, in view of the acceleration this co-operation may induce with regards to the internationalization of FCA members.
In good company

In addition to FCA, another 16 organizations will be enhancing their collaboration with FIT. These include business organizations, chambers of commerce, federations and clusters. Each signed an agreement with FIT to help gear up the internationalization of Flanders-based companies:

  • Agoria
  • B-Hive
  • Belgo-Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
  • Belgo-Chinese Chamber of Commerce
  • DSP Valley
  • essenscia
  • Euka
  • FEVIA Vlaanderen
  • Fedustria
  • Vlaams-Chinese Kamer van Koophandel
  • VIL
  • Flanders.bio
  • Startups.be
  • Voka
  • Unizo
  • VKW Limburg

These structural partnerships are valid for the period of 2017-2021. Their scopes go beyond earlier project-based collaborations, while the funding is split 50/50 between the partners and FIT. Every year, the partnerships will be evaluated based on pre-defined key performance indicators (KPIs). That way, their impacts can be measured objectively.