About us
Who are we?
Machineries & Factories (M&F) is an industrial research platform grouping the activities of about 125 researchers from different research groups, including 25 professors. These professors are working within/leading a research group from two faculties at Ghent University and one at university college howest. Their research activities adds value in smart motion products and smart production systems in an industry 4.0 environment driven by digitalisation and digital twin technology.
Next to this, we are a member of ai.ugent.be and contribute to the Flanders AI Research program.
Strategic alignment
We align our activities with the Flemish strategic research centre for the manufacturing industry Flanders Make. Many of our researchers have a double affiliation FlandersMake@UGent.
Some of our researchers have a double affiliation UGent-imec.
Our mission
Our mission is to
- stimulate and support our researchers to interact and collaborate with the industry
- identify, communicate and bring to the market tangible research results, where relevant patent protected,
- set up multi-partner projects at a regional and European level e.g. in the H2020 framework
- create and make available relevant test infrastructure
- realise spin-offs if the existing eco-system is not (yet) able to absorb our research results
More about our organisation
M&F is an integral part of Ghent University, active at Ghent University and University college Howest.
M&F is partly funded by the Industrial Research Fund (IOF). The IOF provides a supporting framework for collaboration between the Ghent University Association and the industry. M&F is one of about 20 initiatives part of Ghent University's Industrial Liaison Network. Within this network we collaborate with our colleagues from e.g.:
- Metals - metal research and valorisation cluster
- IDLabBD - digital transformation cluster
- EnerGhentIC - energy research community
Other Ghent University links
Information for our researchers
M&F can assist you in
- Understanding the value of your research
- Turning your project results into real life
- Building an industrial network
- Collaborating with companies
- Setting up and managing multi-partner projects
- Communicating your ideas
Information for students
M&F reaches out to the student community:
- With master thesis topics
- Job opportunities
- PhD opportunities