Smart City Office on an inspirational visit to Namur

On Thursday 10 June, the schedule of the Smart City Office of the Brussels-Capital Region and part of the Digital Transition Unit of Minister Bernard Clerfayt took them to the Namur region. They visited several sites, including the Humans/Machines exhibition and the TRAKK. Let's discover these fascinating places with them!

The afternoon of 10 June began with a visit to the Humans/Machines exhibition, the Pavilion's first interactive exhibition. It was open until 13 June, allowing the public to dissect digital culture, its implications and its limits, thanks to the views and creations of researchers, entrepreneurs and citizens. It was a wonderful opportunity to discover the world of deepfakes, robots, machines imitating humans and environments generated by algorithms.

The teams from the Smart City Office and the Digital Transition Unit of Minister Clerfayt's Cabinet then visited the construction site of the NID (Namur Smart and Sustainable), which will be a meeting point for citizens and technology, a sort of embassy of the city's capacity for innovation. The development of the NID into a multi-purpose platform will allow exchanges of information and encourage collaboration and creation. The space will become a multi-functional space for exhibitions, and for dialogue in the spirit of a "citizen canteen".

The last stop on this visit was the TRAKK, a creative hub founded in 2014 with the BEP Expansion Economique, the KIKK Festival, UNamur, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, La Ressourcerie namuroise and the Infopôle Cluster TIC.  This space covers no less than 3,000 m² (in the former UNamur sports hall since 2020) and has been entirely renovated by BEP Expansion Economique.

The "little" TRAKK, as its occupants called it, was used to launch the hub project with a fab lab, a creative room, seven offices and three meeting rooms, as well as a programme of activities (workshops, conferences, working groups) and support services for start-ups in the digital, cultural and creative industries. 

Meetings with, among others, François Laureys, BEP Smart City Manager, and Sophie Marichal, responsible for the NID project, were also held on the day and allowed the teams to discover how the projects for citizens, makers, start-ups and municipalities are managed.

During the day, meetings were held with François Laureys, BEP Smart City Manager, and Sophie Marichal, responsible for the NID project, allowing the teams to discover how the projects for citizens, makers, start-ups and municipalities are managed. The capital of Wallonia is no exception from the rule and has set itself the task of developing its own vision of a smart city. This working visit, based on entrepreneurship and an exploration of digital art, allowed the Smart City Office to discover how Namur, like the Brussels-Capital Region, is transforming into a real smart city.