Many of the Flanders’ Bike Valley partners have close ties to the cycling industry, yet each with their own distinct profiles and backgrounds. BioRacer is a manufacturer of cycling wear, Lazer Sport is specialized in helmets, Ridley Race Productions produces and sells bikes, Voxdale knows all about aerodynamics and engineering, and Flanders’ Drive is a research centre for the automotive industry in general. The other SMEs making up more than 50% of the cluster come from a wide variety of industries (not necessarily cycling), like electronics, design, ICT, and healthcare.
Since cycling is firmly anchored in Flemish culture and all participating SMEs are among the world's leading innovators in cycling, Flanders’ Bike Valley might well become a prime example of cross-industry innovation.
Flanders’ Bike Valley organizes partner matching events and sets up open, innovative projects for multiple partners. The cluster focuses on six major topics that are of interest to the bike industry, namely: mobility, sports, safety & healthcare, science & technology, industry & government, and tourism. In addition, Flanders' Bike Valley also helps the projects that sail under its flag to launch into the market, for instance by arranging company visits and building concept stores. These concept stores are coordinated by a project called Bike Ville, which will be built next to Ridley in Limburg. Flanders' Bike Valley laid the first brick in a promotional event in April 2015. Next to a concept store, the facility is going to include a top sport restaurant, a testing room for aerodynamics, a control room, a training and development center and 20 to 25 space units for bike-related companies.
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