Customer event marks the festive conclusion of WAAK’s 60th anniversary year
Our anniversary year celebrating 60 years of WAAK began in May 2025 with a press event announcing all planned activities. It then got off to a flying start with our open day and staff celebration, which together attracted more than 6,000 visitors. Exactly one year later, in May 2026, the anniversary year was brought to a festive close with a special and unique customer event.
Exchanging ideas with 180 customers and stakeholders
The event brought together no fewer than 180 customers and stakeholders for informal conversations, the exchange of business ideas, and the sharing of inspiration and experiences. Thanks to our four business activities (assembly, packaging, mounting and B2B-services), WAAK has built a diverse customer portfolio. Attendees included customers from the HVAC sector, food industry, injection moulding sector, metalworking industry, as well as representatives from various cities and public authorities.
Bringing together innovative front-runners
The event took place at The Penta, located on the campus of Kortrijk-based university college Howest. This venue was chosen deliberately. Howest enjoys a strong reputation both in Belgium and internationally thanks to its innovative programmes, including Game Design & Development and Industrial Product Design.
WAAK is also regarded as one of the pioneers within the social enterprise sector when it comes to adopting new technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI). For example, WAAK is manually training an AI tool for customer Recupel that will eventually enable the automatic recognition of large household appliances. In addition, WAAK’s self-developed AR tool, Skillscan, allows employees in supported employment to be assessed more quickly and accurately.
Focus on sustainability, circular economy and new technologies
The event offered a successful blend of networking opportunities, more light-hearted activities, and inspirational sessions on social entrepreneurship, sustainability, circularity, and the use of new technologies in manufacturing companies. These themes were also reflected in the contributions of the guest speakers: Adriaan Debruyne (CEO Return2Sender - “Circularity as a Driver of Sustainable Growth”), Roel Vaneeckhout (CEO NON.energy - “From Ownership to Use: A New Logic for Climate and Economic Progress”), and Jelle Demanet (CEO Spatial Dynamics - “Spatial AI in the Workplace”).
The importance of giving back and natural resources
The highlight of the evening was the keynote presentations by Peter Vyncke and Stefan Grosjean, both ambassadors of WAAK. Peter Vyncke, CEO of cleantech company VYNCKE nv, delivered a passionate plea on the importance of giving back to society and supporting people who have fewer opportunities than others, while highlighting the positive role businesses can play in this regard. Stefan Grosjean, CEO of smart energy and charging solutions manufacturer, Smappee, in turn, emphasised the potential of solar and wind energy. These energy sources are freely available and, when deployed intelligently, offer tremendous opportunities for our society.
Working together and moving in the same direction
As a social enterprise, we enjoy collaborating with organisations that share our vision of social entrepreneurship. This customer event provided an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and inspiration with 180 like-minded business leaders and stakeholders. We believe in a future where sustainability and circularity play a central role. We are convinced that this can be achieved when businesses, organisations and public authorities work together and align their efforts towards common goals. The many insights and convictions shared during the event demonstrated that we are not alone in this belief, strengthening our determination to continue advancing our mission and vision.
We have all the expertise and infrastructure that you need!
Kristof Hots
Director Sales & Marketing
M: kristof.hots@waak.be
T: +32 56 36 34 34
