An entertainment campus will be set up around the grounds in Boom where the iconic Tomorrowland festival takes place each year. Planners hope that the site will become the European hotspot for the sector.
The region launched its agency for technology and innovation, Flanders Technology & Innovation (FTI), last year. FTI has now announced its first major project in the form of an entertainment campus at the heart of the Tomorrowland site in Boom, near Antwerp. Speaking at the announcement on Friday, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon called it an incredible reconversion project for the so-called "Rupel region".
"A festival like Tomorrowland proves we can set the bar high," Jambon said. "We also need to attract foreign investors to Flanders. We can do that, I am convinced of that, but then we need to shift gears now."
With festivals like Tomorrowland and Rock Werchter, as well as a large media and gaming sector, Jambon said that the region has the assets to become the European hotspot for research, innovation and creation in the sector.
"We have all the trump cards to make the Rupel region, and thus Flanders, the heart of entertainment technology and thus give our neighbouring countries the edge."
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The government will be looking for suitable locations to accommodate companies that are a fixture in the entertainment sector, as well as startups and institutions for education and research, to base themselves at this campus and stimulate knowledge-sharing among all parties.
The project’s partners include Howest from Kortrijk, Imec from Leuven, Thomas More from Antwerp and We Are One World, the company behind Tomorrowland.
