Wallonia

Region

Introduction

Wallonia (3,633,803 inhabitants in 2018) is one of the three regions of the Federal State of Belgium, together with Flanders (6,559,294 inh.) and Brussels-Capital (1,205,492 inh.) (Eurostat,2019). The country also has three ‘linguistic communities’ (Flemish, French, German). Each type of entity has specific and autonomous competencies with no hierarchy of powers, which, for R&D policy implies a multi-level governance system.

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Economy

Socio-economic profile:

Abundant coal reserves and the early development of blast furnace technologies positioned Wallonia as one of the economic powerhouses of Europe during the industrial revolution. However, difficulties to shift from an era of heavy industry in order to adapt to a more knowledge-based society have left Wallonia lagging behind the rest of Belgium and much of the EU.
Within Belgian regions, Wallonia is ranked third in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita with €24,800 in 2017 compared to €34,300 nationally (Eurostat, 2019). In 2017, Walloon GDP (in purchasing power standard per inhabitant in % of the EU average) represented 84% of the EU average, while Belgium as a whole stood at 116%. After a long period of growth of the regional discrepancy from the EU average, the gap is slowly reducing since the economic crisis.
With an employment rate (15-74 years old) of 91.5% in 2018, Wallonia lies both below the Belgian (94%) and EU27 (93.1%) averages. The unemployment rate remains however stable in Wallonia since 2014 (app. 10%). According to an analysis from the Walloon Institute for Evaluation, Prospective Studies and Statistics (IWEPS, 2013), the economic slowdown since 2008 has indeed mainly impacted the level of productivity. This reflected directly on the evolution of the employment rate over the last few years. In 2014 only 88% of the population in Wallonia was employed, while in 2018 for the first time the region has lower the unemployment rate below 10%. Employment, on the contrary, was rather preserved, thanks to diverse temporary initiatives targeting the safeguarding of jobs or the reduction of working time.
The Wallonia region has a great focus on services, which represent 79% of the workforce in 2018 (compared to 77.9% in Belgium and 71.9% in the EU). The agriculture sector has a similar rate as the Belgian average (1%), while the industry sector is slightly below the national rate (20% in Wallonia and 21.1% in Belgium). (Eurostat, 2019).
According to calculations from IWEPS, in 2016 the main industrial specialisation sectors of the region in terms of value-added are pharmaceutical industries, extractive industries, fabrication of rubber and plastic products, electrical equipment production, metallurgy and fabrication of metallic products (IWEPS, 2018).
Wallonia is a small open economy exporting mainly chemical products, metals and machinery and equipment. The Walloon exports amounted to 16% of the Belgian exports in 2016, while the imports represented 13% of the national total (NBB.Stat, 2019).

Research, Development & Innovation

RTDI profile:

Gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) in Wallonia in 2015 stood at €2,346,887 i.e. 23.2% of Belgian total (Eurostat, 2019). As a percentage of GDP, GERD in Wallonia was above the national and EU averages, with 2.47% of GDP spent on R&D in 2015 (2.46% in Belgium and 2.04% at EU level). Despite the slight increase of GERD since 2012, it, however, remains below the 3% target of GDP dedicated to R&D. There are differences however between sectors, with expenses from the business sector proportionally higher in the Walloon region (1.90% of GDP) than at national (1.72%) or European (1.31%) level in 2015. More than three-quarters of the R&D expenditures in Wallonia are incurred by the business sector against 70% in Belgium and 65% in EU. The higher education sector in Wallonia is under the responsibility of the French-speaking community. There are six universities (two in Brussels), and 25 higher education institutes, called ‘Hautes écoles’, of smaller size and more professionally oriented, besides the 19 University Colleges recognised and subsidised by Wallonia. In 2015, R&D expenditures performed by the higher education sector represented 0.51% of GDP in Wallonia and 0.50% in Belgium (0.47% in EU). The role played by the government sector in the performance of R&D expenditures in Wallonia is very small (0.06% of GDP) compared to the EU average (0.26% of GDP) and the Belgian average (0.23% of GDP) in 2015. As regards business R&D in Wallonia, expenditures are concentrated in a small number of big companies. The importance of companies with more than 500 employees has increased over the period 2002-2009, and in 2009, this category of business financed more than half of business R&D expenditure (55.9%). To put this number in perspective, it should be noted that 99.6% of regional companies are SME (UWE, 2013). With regard to recent trends, it is also important to note that the Walloon entrepreneurial dynamism has been in progress over the last decade, which is illustrated by the net growth of active enterprises, which was estimated at 15.8% between 2013 and 2014. In 2015 the region amounted 45,616 firms, representing 28% of the national total (OECD.Stat, 2019). In terms of human resources for research and innovation, Wallonia has a good level of education. In average, 42.5% of the population aged 30-34 attained tertiary education, according to the latest available data for 2018 (Eurostat, 2019). The relatively good share of human resources in science and technology (HRST) (5.7% in 2018, close to the national average of 5.9%) is highly influenced by the activities of R&D intensive industries. Regarding tertiary education, although the region has been presenting an evolution of the educated population aged between 30 and 34 years old in the last years (42.5% in 2018 compared to 40.9% in 2017 and 39.6% in 2016), it still rates below the national average (47.6% in 2018) (Eurostat, 2019). In terms of patenting activity, the latest data from 2012 shows that with 287 EPO (European Patent Office) patent applications per million inhabitants, Wallonia is ranked lower than the country performance (1,279).

Regional Innovation Scoreboard results

Latest Regional Innovation Scoreboard results:

According to the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS) 2019, Wallonia is ranked as a “Strong Innovator” after years of being classified as a follower. In comparison to the EU average, Wallonia performs particularly well regarding the level of tertiary education, the R&D expenditures in the business sector and the public-private co-publications. The main weaknesses in Wallonia relate to the low level of public expenditures for R&D, the share of SMEs introducing marketing or organisational innovations, and the employment in knowledge-intensive activities.

Governance

Governance profile:

Belgium is a federal country with a highly decentralised research and innovation system, where the main responsibility for innovation policy and funding lies within the regions. The research and innovation policy is overseen by several governments, which enjoy complete autonomy of decision-making power. Each level has its own ministries, departments, agencies and institutions. Formally, there are seven independent Belgian authorities each carrying out their own policy in the wider field of research and innovation, notably the federal government, the regions and the language communities. The mandates with regard to research and innovation are distributed as follows: The federal level retains competence for a limited number of specific policy fields that can influence the innovation system, such as scientific research in the remaining federal science institutes, intellectual property law, corporate taxation measures, employment legislation and social security. The language communities are competent for matters related to persons including scientific research and education, including the universities and university colleges “Hautes-écoles”. The implementation of the policy is placed under the Directorate General for non-obligatory Education and Scientific Research. The community has a dedicated public body in the National Fund for Scientific Research (within the French-speaking part of Belgium, F.R.S-FNRS), which is in charge of university funding. The regions are competent for issues related to territorial matters such as energy, environment, and economic support, thus including applied innovation and industrial research, technology transfer, etc. All regions (and the Communities) have close to full autonomy in managing their ‘own regional innovation system and policies’. A new reform of the State has been voted end December 2013. It has come into force on the 1st of July 2014. It notably foresees the transfer of a number of competencies (incl. social benefits, employment and health), between the Federal level and the federated entities in the country. In particular, the regions will gain a great level of fiscal autonomy. At the Ministerial level, each of the authorities has a Minister responsible for science. In Wallonia, two senior ministers share competence for innovation policy matters: The Minister in charge of the economy has since 2009 the additional responsibility of coordinating competitiveness clusters. In addition, this minister is in charge of higher education within the French-speaking Community. A new ministerial portfolio has been created in 2009 covering Scientific Research, Sustainable Development, Energy, Housing, Building Management, Public Administration, Infrastructure and Coordination employment-environment. This minister is also in charge of scientific research for the French-speaking Community. Although most of the decision making is made in ministerial cabinets, a Walloon Council of Science Policy advises the government on science policy issues, strategies and on specific funding mechanisms (design and evaluation). The implementation of innovation policy in the region is based on the Decree covering research, development and innovation activities in Wallonia adopted in July 2008. which is currently under revision to adapt to the changing rules of the European Framework for R&D support. The decree sets out the conditions of public support to public research organisations, universities, research centres and businesses. In line with government statements, the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has adopted in November 2013 a Decree redefining the landscape of higher education. Being the result of a reflection of more than three years, the new decree will be phased in from September 2014. It establishes a common organisation for all higher education institutions (universities, colleges and art schools) and creates a unique Academy of Research and Education (ARES10), a structure created on 1 January 2014 as the steering body of higher education in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Industrial research funding and funding for academic, public or not-for-profit research centres are managed by the General Operational Directorate for Economy, Employment and Research (DGO6) of the Walloon Public Service. Agencies also exist for promoting innovation and innovation networking (Agency for Technology Promotion (AST)), entrepreneurship (Economic Stimulation Agency (ASE)), internationalisation (AWEX) and investments (SOWALFIN, SRIW). The First two have recently merged into a new Agency for Enterprise and Innovation.

Policy

Policy trends profile:

The Walloon region did not have a regional (research and) innovation strategy per se until the end of 2011. Priorities regarding research and innovation policies were instead included within the broader socio-economic development plan of the region. Following the regional elections in 2009, the formation of the Walloon and French Community governments was based on a common political strategy. The socioeconomic priorities of this strategy have been translated into an operational plan called the Marshall Plan 2.Green. This plan, which has a budget of €1.6b over five years (2009-2014) is a continuation and a reinforcement of the first Marshall Plan (2006-2009). The objectives of stimulating competitiveness and creation of businesses and jobs were at the heart of this Plan, in which the competitiveness poles and clustering policy played a key role. The addition of ‘Green’ underlines the new orientations aimed at better integrating ‘sustainable development’ as a cross-cutting priority. The Marshall Plan 2.Green focused on the following six priority areas: • To develop human capital • To continue the policy of competitiveness poles and business networks • To strengthen scientific research as an engine of future • To create a favourable framework for creating business and quality jobs • To develop ‘Employment – Environment’ alliances • To increase employment and infrastructure in the sector of personal services More recently, the newest Plan Marshall 4.0 was introduced in the region to follow the first two policies. Its goal, nonetheless, was more innovative-technologic related. Connecting innovation and formation, the plan integrates the principles related to good governance. The plan is based on five main pillars: • To transform human capital in an asset; • To support industrial development through innovation and entrepreneurial growth policy; • To mobilise the region towards economic development; • To support efficiency, energy transition and circular economy; • To support digital innovation. The region also observes closely the European 2020 Strategy. The Belgian government has set high standards for the nation that should be followed at the regional level. Thinking of that, the Wallonia government elaborated a document to guide the region’s actions towards innovation and modernisation called “La Wallonie dans la Stratégie Europe 2020” (Wallonia under the Europe 2020 Strategy) in 2019, following precedents correlated documents. In May 2011, the governments of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the Walloon region adopted the Wallonia-Brussels Partnership for Researchers. It is worked out in twenty-five actions divided into six chapters, where public authorities undertake, alongside the actors in research, to place researchers at the centre of the priorities given to the consolidation of research as a driver of the future: Open recruitment and portability of subsidies; Social security, tax system, visas and other matters falling under federal authority; Employment and working conditions; Training of researchers; Gender equality; and Access to Job Market for PhD Holders. In 2014, the region selected its areas of specialisation, as per the ESIF requirements: • Creative economy • Aeronautics and space • Digital technologies and industry 4.0 • Mechanical engineering • Sustainable transport, logistics and mobility • Health & well being • Sustainable materials and surface of the future • Sustainable chemistry

Activities linked with Advanced Manufacturing

Activities linked with Advanced Manufacturing:

Wallonia supports advanced manufacturing mainly in the framework of its competitiveness poles programme, the focus of which is on generating concrete projects focusing on end products and final applications, mainly through R&D collaborative projects, training actions, internationalisation activities and innovation platforms. The calls for projects are launched by the Government but the strategy of poles (niches markets and technology fields) is defined bottom-up. The poles are active in the areas of mechanical engineering (Mecatech), aeronautics and space (Skywin), life sciences (Biowin), construction (CAP Construction, Cluster Eco-construction), ICT (INFOPOLE), plastics (Plastiwin), digital audio-visual (TWIST), sustainable energy (TWEED), sustainable chemistry and materials (Greenwin), logistics (Logistics in Wallonia) and agri-food (Wagralim). They all pay attention to areas such as new materials, including nano-materials, intelligent manufacturing and maintenance, micro-manufacturing, additive manufacturing, surface treatment and coating. According to the inputs of the Walloon Region to the Vanguard initiative, the key Walloon priorities in the field of advanced manufacturing are related to additive manufacturing/3D printing, surface engineering, recycling, and reverse metallurgy. Noticeably the strategy of the Mecatech competitiveness pole is based on four priority areas: materials and surfaces of the future; comprehensive forming technologies; micro-technologies and mechatronics; and intelligent maintenance.
As the poles have been selected on the basis of their economic and technological weight in the regional economy, but also on the basis of their development strategies in their thematic area, in which they possess competitive advantages, the smart specialisation strategy (S3) of Wallonia is today directly linked to the competitiveness poles and cluster policy. From the evaluation of the Walloon competitiveness clusters (Technopolis Group & Erdyn, 2014), it appears that the poles have indeed a key role to play in the implementation of the Walloon S3 strategy, i.e. by offering platforms for cross-sectoral collaborations, implementing thematic strategies in line with societal challenges, exploring co-investment possibilities. The implementation of the S3 can indeed allow the region to gain better cross-border connectivity (regionally and internationally) and cooperation along the value chain allowing reaching critical masses and gaining further knowledge. Within the Walloon Research strategy for 2011-2015, common priorities of the region and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation have also been identified. These priorities encompass and aim at tackling major societal challenges: Sustainable Development; Renewable energies; Quality and length of life; Health; and Key technology domains.
Wallonia is one of the 17 partner regions of the ‘Vanguard Initiative New Growth through Smart Specialisation’ established in 2014, which is a coalition that places the European Union’s Smart Specialisation agenda at its core. The Vanguard Initiative partners seek to ‘lead by example’ and to drive and support new efforts to generate the scale and capacity for the EU to compete on an international level in several key domains. Following the EU communication regarding the industrial renaissance in 2014, the Vanguard Initiative regions decided to: foster an action-oriented discussion on how to develop a Smart Specialisation Platform (SSP) for Advanced Manufacturing (SSP-AM); and to generate, agree and commit to a series of actions to establish a clear roadmap and set of proposals for the establishment of an SSP-AM.
The Vanguard Initiative partners are thus committed to the creation of a platform which gives an impetus to the advanced manufacturing ‘community’ to generate bottom-up ideas, support synergies and alignment at the inter-regional level and create a ‘new space’ for industry engagement. It will build upon and go beyond existing efforts to support this ambition by setting a focus on the smart specialisation priorities of the partner regions.
Wallonia is also involved in existing EU wide initiatives in favour of advanced manufacturing such as SPIRE, the European Technology Platform (ETP) ManuFuture and Manunet, at which Wallonia is on the management board. The region is also involved in INTERREG IV projects related to advanced manufacturing in the Euroregion Meuse-Rhine and “Grande Region”: the TTC Top-Technology Cluster which regroups 19 partners in advanced materials; and the INTERMAT GR with nine partners -notably three cluster organisations- working on materials engineering.
Furthermore, Creative Wallonia is responsible for putting creativity and innovation in the Wallonia Project’s core. They connect different agents in the region in order to promote transformation and to boost the impact in the industrial sector. Some of the operators are Idcampus, Greenhub, Hub Créatif de Liège, Creative Valley, Wapshub, Openhub, Boost-Up Industries Créatives, Engine, all directly or indirectly related to the transformation in the manufacturing industry.

Complete Regional Profile

Economy

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Latest Regional Innovation Scoreboard results

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Activities linked with Advanced Manufacturing

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European Commission - Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Wallonia

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Economy

Research, Development & Innovation

Latest Regional Innovation Scoreboard results

Governance

Policy

Activities linked with Advanced Manufacturing

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