Hardware Unlocked

Hardware Unlocked brought together Belgium’s most innovative hardware start-ups, scale-ups, and established organizations for a full day of inspiration, insights, and interaction. From “ooh’s” and “aah’s” to genuine “aha!” moments, the event celebrated the entire journey of hardware development.

Across five dynamic content formats, industry experts shared practical tips, deep insights, and real-world experiences covering every stage of hardware design. Attendees walked away with a clearer understanding of the challenges, pitfalls, and opportunities in the hardware space.

What made Hardware Unlocked truly unique?

• Keynote Speakers
  Visionary leaders like Yoav Nir (co-inventor of Clickshare) and Bert Bruggeman (COO of Biomason & Chairman of The Ocean Cleanup) shared bold ideas and inspiring stories.
• Innovation Booths
  A curated showcase of cutting-edge hardware products across health, high-tech, and creative industries.
• Content Corners
  Independent hardware experts offered tailored advice and answered questions on six essential domains: certification, go-to-market strategy, manufacturing, funding, and more.
• Insight Stories
  Entrepreneurs revealed creative solutions to niche challenges, offering valuable lessons from the field.
• Comate Hardware Sessions
  Intimate roundtables (max. 15 participants) where entrepreneurs exchanged experiences and received personal feedback from peers and experts.

Flanders has tremendously strong hardware companies, from startups to established names. We believe that they can become even better and faster by connecting them with each other, thus creating the most successful hardware region in Europe.

Leuven MindGate aims to bring together many relevant players within some key business domains at its events and member gatherings.

As the hardware domain is one of the most innovative and high-profile sectors within the broad Leuven region, adding a hardware event to their broad events portfolio was a no-brainer.

At the same time, Comate - as a leading player in the hardware field - had the intention to bring the hardware community together on a full-day event.

The Province of Flemish Brabant also wanted to put their back into a broad event that puts the regional hardware scene in the spotlight.

If you put all these puzzle pieces together, you get 'Hardware Unlocked' , a full-day event where hardware entrepreneurs from all over Flanders gathered to learn from the experts that Comate, Leuven MindGate, and the Province have united.