Providing financial incentives for SMEs to innovate their products and processes
Technological advances that align with corporate social responsibility benefit the planet. Three Antwerp SMEs have taken this to heart. Supported by city funding, their goal is to make their product or manufacturing process more energy-efficient, sustainable, or digitally advanced by 2025.
An independent jury selected three projects from the six submitted after a round of questions. They will benefit from financial support, follow-up guidance, and partner-matching assistance from the City of Antwerp to help them successfully implement their product or process.
The Antwerp Brewing Company at 't Eilandje will be the first Belgian brewery to use environmentally friendly nitrogen gas (N₂) instead of harmful carbon dioxide (CO₂) to prevent beer from coming into contact with oxygen. This will cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%.
Hoboken-based IT company Corsio will develop the AI-driven platform PWRFULL to help companies optimise the production, consumption, and distribution of their renewable energy.
Finally, industrial printer Albe De Coker, also based in Hoboken, will automate its prepress workflow to produce faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost.
Three examples of replicable innovation!