Flemish government approves 12 Moonshot projects

10/01/2020

The Flemish government has approved a first series of projects within the Moonshot initiative. In total, 9 cSBO and 3 LSI projects received support worth more than 18 million euro. With this support, Flemish universities and other research institutes can start working on breakthrough technologies and ground-breaking innovations to make Flemish industries carbon circular and low in CO2 by 2050.

The Flemish government has approved a first series of projects within the Flanders Industry Innovation Moonshot. In this ambitious industrial innovation programme hosted by Catalisti, Flemish universities, research institutes and industries join hands to develop breakthrough technologies by 2040 to create new climate-friendly processes and products. These new technologies will enable Flemish industries to become carbon circular and low in CO2 by 2050. This way, Flemish industries contribute to meeting Flanders' European and international climate commitments.

It is a big responsibility to take the lead in in this ground-breaking research programme, in cooperation with research institutes, industries and other spearhead clusters. The Moonshot initiative is the start of a long tour of discovery with an uncertain outcome. That's just the inherent risk in innovation. - Jan Van Havenbergh, managing director of Catalisti

The projects approved by the Flemish government include 9 cSBO projects and 3 LSI projects. cSBO (Strategic Basic Research for clusters) projects involve innovative research that tests disruptive ideas. This research is pursued through intensive collaboration between UGent, KULeuven, UAntwerpen, VUB, UHasselt, VITO and Centexbel. cSBO projects within the Moonshot initiative have a maximum duration of 18 months. LSI (Later Stage Innovation) projects, on the other hand, aim to accelerate research opportunities that have already proven their feasibility at low TRL. Each LSI project has a maximum duration of 36 months. All approved projects will kick off no later than April 2020.

In the meantime, Catalisti is already shaping the next series of Moonshot projects. From 2020 up to 2040, the Flemish government will invest 20 million euro in Moonshot projects every single year, totalling 400 million euro worth of support and translating climate ambition into action.

Read the press release by VLAIO (in Dutch)