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News

Presentation

Skywin Wallonie is the Belgian Aerospace Cluster, created and labellized by the Walloon Region Government in July 2006.  Resulting form the merge of the two previous clusters EWA and Wallonie Espace, respectively dedicated to Aeronautics and Space sectors, Skywin Wallonie  is "weighting" 7,000 jobs and represents a global revenue of 1.25 billion Euros.

In order to face the technological challenges that are currently required, Skywin first established a sound strategy, focusing on 3 major axes, 3 "More" or "+":  beside the "More intelligent" - aiming at developing technological niches for the future- and the "More applications and services" - aiming at diversifying and creating new companies- one also finds the "More composites" axis which aims at meeting the market demand in terms of yet lighter components or increased performance in the structures, without forgetting the minimization of the environmental footprint.

Skywin is currently busy with the 5th Call for Projects that has been officially closed in January 2009.  The results and the labellized projects for this 5th Call should be soon published by the Walloon Region Government (probably in May).  Since its creation in 2006, Skywin is managing a projects portfolio of 22 projects for a total budget of 75 M€.

 

Skywin's strategy

The development strategy of the cluster actually differs depending on the targeted sector (Aeronautics or Space).  Indeed, important differences exist in the market segment organizations but also in the interdependency between industrial and institutional actors.

 

• For Aeronautics, Skywin essentially aims at supporting the development of high-tech products, meeting the market demand.  In order to do so, it is of utmost importance to support SME's in their technological innovation path.  The objective is to bring our SME's at a true international leadership position in their respective domains.  This strategic development implicitly requires the creation of new activities in Wallonia but also foreign investments in our region.  Last but not least, Skywin also aims at increasing the competitiveness level by means of innovation. 

 

• For Space, the priority goes to the development of space applications and related services.  Besides, Skywin also aims at supporting the development of earth observation instruments.  The cluster is actively supporting the technological transfer and the spin-off creation, especially when related to space technologies that are recognized as "standard".  Furthermore, Skywin acts as a lever for new technological developments, in good intelligence and coordination with the federal space industry policy (i.e. Belspo - The Belgian Science Policy).

Agenda