Two Belgian research centres to merge with €1.5M new government money

Belgium’s Imec and iMinds research centres are merging with the goal of creating a world class facility for digital and nanotechnology research.

Imec is headquartered in Leuven and has offices in the Netherlands, Taiwan, US, China, India and Japan. It has 2,500 nanotech researchers and in 2014 its revenue totalled €363 million.

iMinds, based in Ghent, has  1,000 staff carrying out research in areas including the Internet of Things and digital privacy and security. When the merger is complete at the end of 2016, iMinds will operate as a business unit of Imec.

“Together, we can help Flanders boost its competitiveness and claim a strong international position,” said Danny Goderis, chief executive officer of iMinds.

Luc Van den hove, president and chief executive officer of Imec, said, “This merger provides us with a unique opportunity to jointly reach out to the Flemish industry.”