On Wednesday February 26 2025, the Leuven-Europa-Club organized a field trip for colleagues from the EU institutions to Comate Engineering & Design, a team of more than 80 software, electronic and mechanical engineers, strategists, industrial designers and usability specialists, offering a full-service model to support hardware innovators turn ideas into products (incl. scaling prototypes, regulatory compliance, market launch…).
Comate is a partner of the Start it X accelerator program. Under this umbrella, the Leuven Innovation Region seeks to attract hardware startups to Leuven through the launch of the Start it Hardware accelerator program. Leuven MindGate, a non-profit cluster organization bringing together the city of Leuven, the University of Leuven, and a Leuven-based businesses to facilitate collaboration and innovation, is a key partner in this program.
Sander Van den dries (Comate) introduced us to their business model, as a service provider to innovative hardware producers.
Mans Lindberg (RTD, EC) discussed the importance of industrial transformation in the EU’s current competitiveness agenda.
Jan Paesen (MindGate) presented the Start it Hardware accelerator program and the broader activities of Leuven MindGate.
Finally, ANDREAS LYMBERIS (EISMEA) presented the 2025 Working Program of the European Innovation Council.
It was an exciting visit to an organisation visibly brimming with ideas, innovation and collaboration. A key message emerging from the visit was how important it was for the development of a thriving hardware sector to build on a solid ecosystem that ensures research results are market-oriented fast, by specialists in the field. We are already looking out for the next field visit!
