[Advertorial] More and more investments are being made in Belgium’s digital infrastructure. New projects, such as the construction of new data centers, follow one another in rapid succession. “Belgium has the potential to become Europe’s next data center hub,” says Carole Santens (CEO) of the Belgian Association for Digital Infrastructure.

The federal government is taking further steps to make Belgium known as a country of innovation. This also has an impact on the market. Google recently received approval to build three new data centers in Farciennes and the company will invest an additional one billion euros. KevlinX is also building a data center in Neder-Over-Heembeek and Green Energy Park, a project of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the University Hospital of Brussels (UZ Brussels), recently published news about the new Nexus data center.

“These developments create a growing need to come together and discuss the future of the sector,” says Carole Santens (CEO) of the Belgian Association for Digital Infrastructure. For this reason, the BDIA is organizing the first edition of DigitalX on June 10th and 11th in Brussels.

Why are you organizing DigitalX?

Santens: “Belgium has a strategic location in Europe. Think, for example, of the SEA-ME-WE 3 submarine cable, which has a land connection in Ostend, but also in and around Brussels, where more and more data centers are being built. We see that municipalities and federal governments are becoming increasingly aware of the opportunity to become the new European data center hub. With the DigitalX event, we want to bring governments even closer into contact with data center operators, investors and companies from the digital ecosystem.”

What topics will be discussed during DigitalX?

Santens: “On the day of the conference (June 11th) we start with a plenary morning program. In it, Kevin Restivo, Director of Data Center Research at CBRE, shares a vision of the Belgian digital infrastructure sector so visitors know what developments are taking place and how the market will develop in the coming years. In addition, David Zenner from Elia will give a lecture on the Belgian energy market. In the C-level data center panel, important operators discuss the opportunities and challenges of the market. In the afternoon breakout sessions, important topics such as connectivity, sustainability, innovation and (future) investments will be discussed.”

What expectations should visitors have of the first edition of DigitalX?

Santens: “With DigitalX we are concentrating on the decision-makers in the industry. Networking is the focus of the event and our goal is to bring together all stakeholders involved in the digital infrastructure. We also consciously chose the Dome Event Hall in Brussels because this location has international appeal and at the same time symbolizes the aim of making Belgium the new digital center of Europe.”

Sign in to DigitalX

Interested parties can use this link to order tickets for the event (June 10th & 11th) with a 10% discount thanks to ITdaily.