Prestigious University Fosters Innovation-Driven Economy

Central library KU Leuven (c) Rob Stevens

KU Leuven, one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious universities, has been focusing on research as well as education for the past four decades. Today, KU Leuven offers outstanding opportunities for students, researchers and partners from all over the world.

Koen Debackere, Managing Director of the university and Executive Director of KU Leuven Research & Development, explains that along with its emphasis on research, KU Leuven has attracted an exceptional international faculty. He says, “When Pieter De Somer was rector in the 1970s and 1980s, he required every faculty member to have some research experience abroad. The tradition began for our professors to earn their PhDs in leading international universities like Stanford, MIT, Harvard and others. KU Leuven remains very Ivy League-oriented and very research-oriented. In fact, KU Leuven is responsible for around 45% of all fundamental research activity in Flanders.”

KU Leuven also serves as a benchmark in Belgium for productive partnerships between university researchers and the private sector. KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD), the university’s knowledge and technology transfer office, launched in the 1970s, fosters collaboration with local and international companies, a strong patent portfolio and the creation of spin-off enterprises. Koen Debackere points out, “KU Leuven was one of the first universities in continental Europe to focus on innovation visibly and explicitly. And although this is part of the university’s history, it is also very real today. KU Leuven is one of the founding members of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) thanks to this focus on research and innovation that has paralleled the university’s focus on education since the Middle Ages.”

Today, largely thanks to the university, over 300 high-tech enterprises are based in Leuven and around 4,000 people are employed in around 140 spin-off companies. The university hospitals and imec, a world-leading nanoelectronics research centre, are other important actors KU Leuven has brought to the city and its residents. “KU Leuven has created an innovation-driven economy here, and this applies not only to high-tech companies but also to knowledge in services and other types of enterprises,” Koen Debackere says.

Top five among Europe’s research-oriented universities

Koen Debackere has been at KU Leuven since 1995, first as a professor and later as head of KU Leuven Research &Development before he became Managing Director in 2005. During his time at the university, he has witnessed an impressive internationalisation of the university’s research activities. He says, “One of the university’s crowning achievements is the position it has reached in the international research landscape, not only in output, but also in terms of participation. For example at the moment we are ranked the number five institution in Europe for participating in European framework projects. The four institutions that are ahead of us are Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and ETH Zurich.” Around one-quarter of the university’s masters-degree students are from abroad, reflecting KU Leuven’s strong global reputation.

KU Leuven also has one of the most impressive intellectual-property portfolios of any university in Europe. Koen Debackere says, “We have around 600 active patent families, and close to 90% of those patent families are commercially exploited. We are working with over 2,000 companies, which is huge in terms of numbers and contracts, and we have a licensing portfolio in the neighbourhood of €63.2 million in annual income. KU Leuven has a proven track record in transferring and translating research into valuable economic activity.”

Along with its international reach, the university continues to serve as a valued partner and has been involved in around 2,000 collaborations with private-sector companies in Flanders in the past year alone. Koen Debackere says, “We work with SMEs and large companies in all kinds of innovation-led projects. This is the bread-and-butter activity of LRD. Making sure that we increase innovation capacity at the company level is a primary objective. Many of our research groups closely interact with companies which need to innovate and we supply them with talent and infrastructure.”

Cutting-edge products through partnerships

Innovations resulting from partnerships with KU Leuven include Samsonite’s ultra-light suitcases; algorithms and technology for Cochlear, a global leader in hearing devices; support for the spin-off LMS, which is a leader in its niche of the auto industry; and a new recipe for Uncle Ben’s 10-minute rice developed in the university’s bio-engineering laboratories.

KU Leuven also partners with other universities, including eight in Spain as well as institutions in Germany, France, India, China, Japan, Brazil, Vietnam and Ethiopia, among others. Koen Debackere notes, “We are always looking for partners internationally. We want to expand our partnerships to universities and companies all over the world, including in the US.” Defining KU Leuven’s competitive edge, heads, “Our focus on innovation and research, our quality education, and our city’s strategic location and openness to creativity are reasons KU Leuven will continue to be a leader. We aim to remain at the forefront of positive change in Europe and beyond.”