The morning session was hosted by A6K, a multi-disciplinary centre housed in a repurposed Caterpillar factory that closed in 2016, and has been revitalised to have a positive economic impact on the territory. Abd-Samad Habacchi, the centre’s CEO spoke about their mission of contributing to the transformation of the city’s industrial heritage by structuring an ecosystem by concentrating under one roof the forces linked to innovation, incubation, and education.

Denis Cariat of IGRETEC shared some insights from CATCH – the strategy on how the centre where A6K is located was reinvented under a new identity to reinvigorate the local and regional economy. The original CATCH Plan was a plan reacting to the factory’s closure, however it has since been updated to CATCH turbo and is designed to be a more proactive plan to ensure economic sustainability in the region. Paul Magnette, the Mayor of Charleroi and former Minister-President of Wallonia, shared his insights on Charleroi as a fertile city completely transforming a once coal-centric city and redesigning the space and infrastructure to keep its history while meeting the needs of the citizens of today, and the future. The morning session was rounded out by Paolo Ruaro from Charleroi Bouwmeester and the City of Charleroi who spoke on the master plan for the metropolitan park that is a common vision designed to change and improve the image of the city, from amplifying the landscape, to work on different scales and mobility, and to provide, transform, and create energy on site. 

The afternoon session took place nearby at the IGRETEC building, and opened with a presentation by Marcel Miller, the President of the Strategic Development Committee of Charleroi, an organisation focused on the socio-economic development of the Charleroi metropole and their strategic focus of ensuring the development and sustainability of the region. The next speaker was Colonel BEM Monin of the Belgian Military who spoke to launch of a project in the region to increase military capacity and knowledge in an initiative that is integrated into the local, socio-ecological systems and with the citizens of Charleroi. The visit to Charleroi concluded with a presentation by Renaud Moens, the General Director of IGRETEC, who shared how the intermunicipal company is working with associates across Wallonia and Brussels in the areas of industrial design, economic and territorial development of Charleroi, energy, and the management of treatment and flood water evaluation structures.

Overall, it was an informative day in Charleroi where attendees from many of EURADA’s members got to see, learn, and experience how an historically industrial region went about transforming itself into an innovative, sustainability, and economically region, and take away ideas and inspiration to implement in their own regions.