Belgian Tech Ecosystem Overview:
- Belgium has about 3,000 startups spread throughout the country; the whole nation acts as a startup hub.
- The startup scene is growing rapidly but remains somewhat under the radar in Europe.
- Ghent ranks in the top 10 most dense startup ecosystems in Europe and 19th globally.
- Belgium is known for strong R&D, multilingual skilled labor, and competitive costs compared to cities like London and Paris.
- Major sectors: biotech, digital health, fintech, manufacturing tech.
- The EU is headquartered in Brussels, making Belgium a top lobbying capital.
- IMEC, located in Leuven, is the world’s largest nano-electronics center, partnered with major global players; the Leuven-Eindhoven area is critical for semiconductor development.
- Belgium and the Netherlands are consistently ranked among Europe’s top innovation leaders.
- Startup composition: 43% young startups, 38% scale-ups.
- Business focus is mainly B2B rather than B2C.
- Leading tech sectors: health tech, manufacturing, fintech.
- Ghent and Brussels are key startup cities; Ghent is ascending fast.
- Top accelerator: IMEC iStart.
- 2024 was a record funding year with €1.4 billion raised by Belgian tech companies, outperforming neighboring countries.
- Belgium currently has five unicorns, including Odoo (ERP software) and Lighthouse (hotel management software).

Company Pitches and Key Highlights:

1. Manual2 (Presenter: Joorim Rademaker)
- Problem: Traditional manuals are outdated, unused, and cause productivity loss (~30% among blue collar workers).
- Solution: A user-friendly digital manual platform that allows quick creation, sharing, and multilingual access to instructional content via QR or URL.
- Usage: 100,000 users across 100 countries; clients include Procter & Gamble, Microsoft.
- Business model: Subscription (per user per month); profitable and largely bootstrapped with ~€2M recurring revenue.
- Actionable: Seeking partnerships with Polish companies with large technical workforces; hiring for sales and product development; accelerating global scaling.

2. Phish (Presenter: Manon)
- Problem: Despite investments, phishing attacks rise; spam filters inadequately block malicious AI phishing emails.
- Challenges: Human fallibility under stress/unpredictability; high-risk groups like new hires remain vulnerable.
- Solution: "Zero Incident Mail" product isolates emails in a digital silo, allowing safe browsing without IT infrastructure risks; email self-destructs after use.
- Customers: 5,000+; 1.5M users; ARR €10M.
- Actionable: Open to discussions with companies of all sizes interested in enhancing cybersecurity training and email security.

3. Polysense (Presenter: Jan Boehaert)
- Problem: 60 million tons of food waste annually due to static production processes that do not adapt to natural product variance.
- Solution: AI-powered inline quality control with computer vision to dynamically adjust manufacturing parameters (demonstrated improvement in potato peeling with up to 40% efficiency gain for client Roger and Roger).
- Benefits: Reduced waste (sustainability), decreased operator bias, and improved profit margins.
- Expansion: Interested in entering the Polish market food industry.
- Actionable: Seeking contacts in Polish food manufacturing for partnerships and pilot projects.

4. T-Mining (Presenter: Christian)
- Problem: Security risks in container handovers at ports, vulnerable to organized crime and infiltration.
- Solution: Blockchain-based secure container release platform securing the exchange of container handover data; compatible with existing systems.
- Clients include top ocean carriers (MSC, CMA, Hapag-Lloyd) with 6,000 companies onboard.
- Current focus: Expanding into the Polish market; aim to improve port efficiency and scale.
- Actionable: Looking to connect with ocean carriers, freight forwarders, transport companies, and software providers in Poland.

5. Threat Exposure (Presenter: Dieter)
- Problem: Major cybersecurity breaches due to unpatched and unknown internet-exposed systems; example: Antwerp ransomware attack costing €100M.
- Solution: Platform that discovers all internet-exposed corporate assets, tracks threat actors, and sends timely warnings on vulnerabilities and new hacking techniques.
- Proven prevention of attacks in Belgium and Slovakia.
- Actionable: Encourages organizations to audit their internet-exposed assets; open for discussions on cybersecurity enhancement.

Closing Notes & Call to Action:
- All five companies are actively seeking opportunities and partnerships in the Polish market.
- Interested parties are encouraged to connect with the companies at Booth C13 during the event.
- Belgian startups showcase resilience and innovation in various sectors including cybersecurity, manufacturing, and digital solutions.

Actionable Items:
- Polish companies with large technical workforces should explore collaboration with Manual2 for digital manual usage.
- Organizations interested in phishing protection can engage with Phish for Zero Incident Mail product.
- Food manufacturers in Poland should consider Polysense technology for waste reduction and efficiency.
- Port, logistics, and transport stakeholders are invited to discuss secure container handling with T-Mining.
- Enterprises concerned about cybersecurity risks from unknown internet-exposed systems should contact Threat Exposure for asset discovery and risk mitigation.