DEL20: delaware’s ecosystem for innovation

Imagine for a moment that you could pursue the innovation project of your dreams, without having to worry about your competitors, budget restrictions, or the risk of failure. Which project would you choose? What would your goals and ambitions look like? delaware’s very own innovation accelerator, DEL20, can help you turn them into a reality.

What is DEL20?

The DEL20 ecosystem assembles the brightest minds from the most forward-thinking companies and provides them with the space and expertise they need to experiment with new ideas, share knowledge, and shape the businesses of tomorrow.

The community fully focuses on knowledge sharing and cross-sector networking, so as to remain updated on the latest technologies, business models, and more. It aims to remove all the barriers that could block promising innovation projects, and to create valuable learning opportunities.

How does DEL20 work?

The DEL20 experiments take place in Flanders, Wallonia, France, the Netherlands and Singapore. Every year, applicants from the delaware ecosystem are encouraged to submit their innovative business ideas.

The DEL20 community, which comprises several high-profile partners, will select a couple of cases. For a whole year, those business applications are tested and evaluated by means of emerging, cutting-edge technologies and innovative data methodologies.

During that time, delaware offers its business expertise, technical skills, and 25 days of free consultancy per project. The respective owners regularly inform the DEL20 community about any insights they gather along the way. That often leads to fascinating cross-pollination, networking and knowledge sharing between different industries with similar challenges. Eventually, all DEL20 members will judge each project’s potential and innovation value.

by working on real problems using real data, innovation becomes more efficient and effective

Thierry Bruyneel, partner at delaware

DEL20 success stories

In the last few years, the DEL20 ecosystem has sprouted several blooming innovation projects:

Hypermarket venture Cora Belux developed an app to show customers the shortest path and the optimal product-picking order in their stores, based on their shopping list.
Régie Média Belge (RMB) established The Blue Score, a metric to evaluate a brand’s commitment to sustainable goals, which could help provide ‘green’ stakeholders with top-tier advertising space.
All-cargo carrier Cargolux came up with an algorithm to determine and optimize each pilot’s sleep and rest schedule.
John Cockerill worked on an app allowing its employees to reserve a charging station for their electric vehicles on a specific date, reducing the logistical burden of managing charging stations while optimizing their use.

NMBS-SNCB used 3D sensors to analyze its passenger flows in a GDPR-compliant way, and experimented with low-energy Bluetooth sensors to help managers find their assigned train.
Roularta Media Group applied and fine-tuned the TextRank algorithm to extract key sentences from long-form content.

BekaertDeslee deployed RPA to streamline the administration behind its customer experiences.
Sabam tried speech-to-text (STT) technology to automatically detect the unlicensed use of copyrighted content on YouTube.
Cartamundi optimized the use of SAP through a collaborative filtering system.
La Lorraine Bakery Group (LLBG) improved its sales by 5%, thanks to a new sales-forecasting model.
De Watergroep tested quantum computing and advanced analytics capabilities via the Databricks platform. The objective was simple: to identify the best places on the Watergroep network to locate pressure sensors to detect potential leaks.
Schréder, world leader in outdoor lighting, exploited open data to adapt the intensity of public lighting taking into account traffic, weather conditions and proximity of infrastructures.
Magotteaux tested the potential of AI technologies, data modeling, and data mining to optimize its commercial prospecting mechanisms. The aim was to combine internal and external databases to maximize the sales team’s chances of success.

You can find a detailed overview of all 2022 DEL20 projects in our blog.

The DEL20 goals

Primarily, the DEL20 accelerator aims to generate as much value as possible for all parties involved. “For DEL20 members, every project offers either new insights or real-world optimization,” explains Steven Lenaerts, partner at delaware.

“At the same time, delaware learns a lot about market needs and what keeps our clients awake at night, so we can adapt our offering accordingly. Finally, thanks to its democratic selection process, the broader DEL20 community acquires priceless knowledge from each experiment. After all, every DEL20 project solves shared challenges, enabling companies in different sectors to learn from each other.”