Thursday 05 June 2026
Wednesday, July 3, the "Ple Image de Lige", a center point of the audiovisual arena in Wallonia, hosted the first meeting of the High-Level Group of the "Wallonia European Creative District" (WECD) project. A busy day of discoveries and brainstorming.
Well known to the audiovisual sector, the "Ple Image de Lige" hosted, this Wednesday, 3 July, the first meeting of the High-Level Group of the "Wallonia European Creative District" project. Selected by the end of 2012 by the European Commission together with Tuscany, among 44 applications-, the WECD project aims to raise the Creative Wallonia Plan (launched in 2010) to the rank of "Large-Scale Demonstrator", by extending it on an international scale.
Planned for this meeting, the visit of the " Ple Image de Lige", a former tobacco factory converted into a creative and cultural centre, and a wide brainstorming. Among the committee of selected specialists, there are eight different and complementary personalities: Louis-Etienne Dubois, namely lecturer and researcher in creation management at HEC Montreal; Thomas Froehlicher, Dean of HEC Lige and professor of organizational innovation; Philippe Kern, founder-director of KEA, an international engineering office specialized in cultural policies and creative industries; Anne Magnus, senior consultant at Kurt Salmon Belgium; Robert Viseur, expert in innovation management at the University of Mons, Carlo Vuijlsteke, project manager at the Flanders District of Creativity; Christine Liefhooghe, geographer and lecturer at the University of Lille 1 and Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning, Director of the Center for Culture and Experience Economy (Denmark). At the head of this High-Level Group, Henri Monceau, in charge of Creativity, Innovation and New Technologies in the cabinet of Jean-Claude Marcourt and member of the political platform of the European Creative Industries Alliance (ECIAP).
Four tasks for the think tank
Until summer 2015, the academic experts and operators will be responsible for four tasks. Discussing the strategy and methodology of the WECD project and assessing the Creative Wallonia plan are part of their first two assigned tasks. Specialists must also analyze the results of the WECD project and issue recommendations. Ultimate goal: indicating the tools of the Creative Wallonia plan (coworking spaces, master in creativity...) that could be exploited on an international scale.
The Secretariat of this "scientific committee" is provided by the SPW/DGO6, partner-coordinator of the WECD project. Four meetings are scheduled throughout the project, in emblematic and creative places of the country. The date of the next meeting is already included in the agenda: it will be held in December.
Initiated in 2010 by the cabinet of the Minister of Economy Jean-Claude Marcourt, Creative Wallonia has been heavily involved since its launch in the enhancement of the image of Wallonia abroad. Following the success of the Competitivevess Clusters, Wallonia is now seen as an innovative, original territory at the forefront of innovation.
We hope that the WECD project will have the same success !
www.creativewallonia.be/wecd
Follow the progress of the project on Twitter : #WECD
@wall-inno
@creativewal
Contact:
DG06/ Economic Policy Directorate
Chlo Faton, Attache - Project Officer Wallonia, European Creative District
T: +32 (0) 81 33 39 38