Research centres and universities

A large amount of research groups in Belgian universities and research institutes are active in space activities, through which they mobilise and strengthen their specific know-how. They take part in research and development in the framework of:

• ESA activities and programmes;
• programmes which are coordinated and financed directly by the Space Research and Applications department of BELSPO, e.g. the STEREO programme;
• bilateral of multilateral collaborations between Belgium and other countries;
• programmes coordinated and financed by the Europesean Commission (e.g. Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe).

In addition to research teams active in the universities (KU Leuven, UAntwerpen, UCLouvain, UGent, UHasselt, ULB, ULiège, UMons, UNamur and VUB), the most important research institutes with space activities are:

• Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK CEN)
• Centre Spatial de Liège (CSL)
• Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO)
• Inter Universitary Micro Electronics Center (IMEC)
• Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
• Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BISA)
• Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI)
• Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA)
• Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB)
• Von Karman Institute (VKI)