Living Tomorrow and 30 pioneering companies and organisations are building the future in Vilvoorde

Over the past few months, Living Tomorrow, which has already been one of Europe’s major innovation players for over 25 years, has brought together as many as 30 innovative companies and organisations to realise an innovative vision based around 5 themes: smart homes & consumer services, smart mobility, smart health & care, smart buildings and smart cities & industry. Working with organisations such as Schüco, OneSpan, UGent, Medtronic, Baloise Insurance, Xella, Mercedes-Benz, Fluvius, ABB and Miele, Living Tomorrow will work according to these themes and test out various proof of concepts with the general public. The new campus, an investment of over 30 million euros, which is being constructed on the current Living Tomorrow site in Vilvoorde, will give the Brussels-Ring-road skyline a future-oriented view.

Unique collaboration model makes the new world a reality

Over the past few months, the world has changed enormously. Businesses and organisations are looking for ways to adapt and demonstrate their flexibility for the world of tomorrow. Which is exactly what Living Tomorrow has been showing and putting into practice for almost 3 decades. Joachim De Vos, CEO of Living Tomorrow: “Innovation frequently remains far in the future, but in reality it is missing. At Living Tomorrow we create the bridge between the idea and realisation. We help companies to look over the wall of their own organisation. We bring sectors together. Furthermore, we let the general public experience innovations in our buildings. Demonstrating and helping to make the future a reality has already been our strength for 25 years.”

30 new partners are already giving their best

“Our partners come from different sectors, but have a mutual aim, to make the future better using innovative solutions. They learn from each other, inspire and strengthen each other. That’s what makes innovation tangible. Open innovation and ecosystems based around innovation are the future. Certainly if we start by building the new innovation campus, which work will begin on this autumn. This is a unique project where future innovations and real life meet, which we will realise with all of our partners. With it, we are responding to an urgent need from the business world, as is evident from the fast-growing number of interested parties. However, organisations who want to help shape the future, are of course still very welcome.” says Frank Beliën, chairman and founder of Living Tomorrow.

The partners confirm this vision. Niels Kowollik, CEO of Mercedez-Benz BeLux states: “At Living Tomorrow, we are part of the development of the future. We want to contribute with our knowledge in the field of mobility and mobility services as well as in other areas like digital service provision. And naturally, we also want to learn from the other partner’s expertise.” Henk Janssen, CEO of Baloise Insurance, adds: “Baloise Insurance does much more than just insuring. That's why we invest heavily in innovative projects in the field of health, digitization and mobility. We develop ecosystems in cooperation with innovative partners and start-ups. We strongly believe that, together with our Living Tomorrow partners, we can put the pieces of the puzzle together for a powerful vision on living and moving around.” Geert Michels, Country Manager of Schüco Belgium sums it up beautifully. “Living Tomorrow is a concept that you can interest all of your stakeholders in, for the integration within the Living Tomorrow concept, working with other partners and the experience of living in the future.”

In the past few months, as many as 30 partners have joined the new Living Tomorrow ecosystem, including Schüco, Baloise Insurance, Mercedes-Benz and Miele. This means that half of the available places are filled. Living Tomorrow always strives for exclusive partnerships with innovative companies and organisations, especially those who are (or want to become) digital-at-the-core and customer/consumer first. There are still 30 places available for this within the various themes and the associated future service provision.

5 domains in which the world will change radically over the next 10 years through the impact of technology and innovation

They have combined strengths in the areas of all five themes: smart homes & services, smart mobility & logistics, smart health, smart buildings & infrastructure and smart cities & industry 4.0. Themes with a big social impact, which will have an effect on citizens, organisations, cities & municipalities as well as businesses. Consequently, research is being done into what role AI could play in healthcare, and likewise how we can build more intelligently in the future with a focus on sustainability. According to Joachim De Vos, they are expecting to propose numerous new innovations to professionals and the public via this new platform. But through this unique ecosystem, innovations will also see the light of day, in the centre of Europe. In the past, Living Tomorrow has already been a hotbed for tens of new concepts that are now well-known in the market; from smart-home systems (1995), barcode readers for ordering your shopping (1996), smart doorbells (1997), the smart letterbox (2000), packing stations (2001), app banking (2003), self-checkouts in the supermarket (2009), smart energy metres (2010), the ambulance drone (2012), solar charging for EVs (2013), AI Digital Twin for health check-ups (2019) etc.

With the new platform several new concepts will also be tested out in and around the Living Tomorrow buildings and via virtual platforms with 3D/4D interaction. In this way, the platform will become a new-generation, market-of-the-future, research platform that puts partners in contact with their customer, consumer and service provider of tomorrow. The brand new campus will open its doors in 2022 and will include a hotel, an experience centre and offices among other things. All sorts of innovative projects will start in the preceding phase, including the site of the future and various conceptual labs that will be ready to visit from the autumn: FoodLab, RetailLab, EnergyLab etc.

Living Tomorrow, one of Europe’s biggest innovation players for over 25 years

Living Tomorrow, with its headquarters in Vilvoorde, has already been active in the field of innovation for over 25 years. Living Tomorrow, which started out as “House of the Future” can now draw on its own innovation & strategy consultancy department TomorrowLab. With a team of over 50 innovation designers they help businesses, organisations, cities and local authorities to set-up and implement their innovation plans. Moreover, around 20 partners in innovation research are also closely involved in Living Tomorrow’s latest realisation.

Overview of the organisations that have already joined us:

Anyone who’d like a glimpse of the future innovation campus, can see it at www.livingtomorrow2030.com.