Flanders Cleantech Association - What’s in it for you?

This first newsletter gives us an opportunity to provide an overview of what Flanders Cleantech Association, or “FCA” for short, stands for, and what FCA can mean for you as Flemish company or organisation active in the area of cleantech.

The FCA newsletter will be published every 3 months. Should you no longer wish to receive it, send an e-mail to christine.broux@fca.be with as subject “Unsubscribe FCA newsletter”.

The Inauguration of FCA

VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research) launched FCA on 19 April during the i-SUP2010 conference (Innovation for Sustainable Production) at Bruges. This free and open initiative has the ambition to organise networking and collaboration in a structured way among all actors active in the cleantech industry in Flanders. As point of contact for Flemish companies that wish to do business abroad, Flanders Investment and Trade assists in the FCA's international component.

What is cleantech?

Cleantech can be defined in many ways. For VITO and FCA, cleantech means each technological solution that underpins the transition to a sustainable society. In other words, not only renewable energies such as wind turbines and solar panels, or traditional environmental technology such as soil remediation, and water treatment, but also renewable materials, sustainable chemistry, emission free transport, integrated solutions for sustainable urban development and agriculture, etc.

FCA objectives

• To provide a platform for structured networking between all parties concerned and the broad public – integration of the Flemish cleantech sector, in both the international and Flemish context.
• To inventorise the cleantech sector in Flanders, including suitable company information.
• To contribute to an improved and more understandable image abroad.
• In collaboration with partners, to provide opportunities, both locally and abroad.

What can FCA mean for your company or organisation?

The fully updated FCA website will be launched this autumn. This central communication platform will provide among other things an initial overview of companies active in cleantech using an advanced search engine, as well as give an idea of the concentration of cleantech activities per region via “Flanders Cleantech Hotspots”.

(Free) registration keeps you automatically informed of new business opportunities and entitles you to receive the quarterly newsletter.

The website and its cleantech database search engine with international scope can be a free extra promotional channel for your activities. Putting your profile on the website (general information, your cleantech activities, interest in partnerships, focus countries for internationalisation ...) will make it easier for Flemish and international partners to find you.
The site will also highlight innovative projects, solutions and services.

The detailed inventory of the Flemish cleantech industry will provide you with an informative and structured view of cleantech players in Flanders – market data, possible partners, suppliers, service organisations, etc. – packaged in a handy search tool.

Linked to the website is an open communication platform for Flemish stakeholders (exchange of ideas, advice, partner search, discussions, etc.), complete with an international window on what is happening in Flanders. To this end, among other things a LinkedIn group was launched. Open discussions can now be started in this group; structured discussions on selected topics will appear in the autumn of 2010.

You will be presented with international business opportunities via website, newsletter and, if relevant, also e-mail.

FCA events

• 18-21 October 2010: cleantech business trip via Flanders Investment and Trade to Hungary www.flandersinvestmentandtrade.be (Campaigns & Events)
  This group business trip is the ideal platform to present to selected potential Hungarian partners and local governments the expertise that Flanders has accumulated in numerous sub-segments of the environmental and cleantech sector. In addition to the activities organised by FIT, the programme can also be tailored to the participating companies.
• 26 October 2010: VITO/FCA seminar at IFEST environment and energy fair in Flanders Expo Ghent
• 10 December 2010: EU-India Cleantech Summit at the EU-India Business Summit

More information:

become an FCA member free of charge and register for the newsletter at www.fca.be
Visit the VITO/FCA stand at IFEST from 26 to 28 October 2010
Contact the FCA via christine.broux@fca.be