The not-for-profit organisation, Flanders’ DRIVE, was set up in 1996 as an automotive industry initiative by an assortment of companies in Belgium to cope with the increasing demand for innovation in the sector. Activities started in 2001 with the support of the local Flemish Government and by 2004 the building and infrastructure of Flanders’ DRIVE in Lommel, Belgium, came into operation.

At first, Flanders’ DRIVE focused solely on product innovation. Since 2005 however, it expanded its focus to include process innovation for production and assembly companies as well. Over the past few years, Flanders’ DRIVE has developed into a research center for the Belgian vehicle industry, which supports the sector with a hands-on approach and a permanent and flexible focus on the actual needs of the sector. For this, Flanders’ DRIVE has a team of 45 employees and state-of-the-art infrastructure available for innovation support and application-oriented research

together with and for the Belgium automotive industry. It now has over 170 Partners including Volvo, Tyco, Toyota, Bombardier, Alcatel-Lucent, Continental, DAT Trucks, Ford, IVECO, Johnson Controls, Siemens, NXP, and TI Group to name a few.