Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the French-speaking Community of Belgium that includes the Region of Wallonia and Brussels, has signed a cooperation agreement in science and technology with Tufts University. WBI encompasses the entire Research and Innovation system of Wallonia and Brussels: 6 universities, 6 industrial clusters, 22 applied research centers and the related funding bodies. The representatives of this Research and Innovation system periodically meet at WBI in order to build a comprehensive international scientific policy.
On November 12th 2013, WBI and Tufts launched a strategic collaboration and signed a 2-year-Cooperation Agreement in Science and Technology. This agreement formalizes the hosting of a Scientific Liaison Officer (SLO) on campus. Mr. Maxime Van Cauter, the SLO, will be based at Tufts' Office for Technology Licensing and Industry Collaboration as of January 2014. One of his main tasks will be to identify partnerships opportunities involving Tufts’ research teams and Wallonia-Brussels’ scientific stakeholders.
The agreement is the third of this kind for WBI, which is already partnering with Uppsala University (Sweden) and São Paulo University (Brazil). The SLO Network of WBI is still growing and at every step, each partner benefits from these relationships.
Mr. Van Cauter will also organize a Scientific and Technology review and will identify new mechanisms of collaborative research funding. Mr. Van Cauter may also help shape bilateral or international partnerships and implement them with parties from Wallonia-Brussels.
The creation of the SLO post at Tufts complements the global reach of the broader International Network of Wallonia-Brussels. Together with Tufts representatives, Mrs. Edith Mayeux, Trade Commissioner for the Wallonia Export & Investment Office in New York was also present during the official signature of the Tufts-WBI Agreement.