A successful year full of conferences for Leuven

Home to the KU Leuven, the oldest university in the Low Countries, and located at only a stone’s throw from Brussels, the capital of Europe and headquarter of many associations, Leuven is each year the setting for a variety of business events. Looking back on 2015, the city of Leuven had a very successful year full of conferences. The small city with different modern hotels and unique historic venues leaves an impression on every participant of your event. Seminars and conference dinners can be easily organised in plenty of special venues in Leuven.

The Conference on “What do we lose when we lose a library?”, for example, was held in the impressive University Library, which itself suffered a massive fire during the Great War. The twelfth-century University Hall, which was damaged during that same fire, provided the perfect setting for the plenary sessions of this conference about the future challenges of libraries.

Also Europe’s largest marketing conference, the EMAC (European Marketing Academy) conference, knows how to choose a setting. With 950 participants, the fairylike Arenberg Castle gardens were the ideal place for the closing dinner of the EMAC. To really finish in style, there was an after party at Het Depot, a bustling music centre where normally pop and rock concerts are held.

With the University Hospitals of Leuven being one of the most modern and well-equipped hospitals in Europe, the faculty of medicines was quickly chosen as the conference venue for the 42^nd meeting of the ESAO (European Society for Artificial Organs). The ESAO hosted 62 international experts and selected 121 presentations and 81 posters from 25 different countries. The multinational participants of this ESAO meeting enjoyed a reception at De Hoorn, which is the birthplace of the world-renowned Stella Artois.

The attendees of the interdisciplinary meeting on Metabolism in Cancer and Stromal Cells also recognised Leuven as an ideal setting for their health-themed conference. The organising committee chose the famous M-Museum as the event venue. This museum has become a household name in the art world and gives a special edge to every event. The conference dinner was held at Faculty Club, in the Grand Beguinage of Leuven, which is on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage.

With more than 2,000 association meetings a year and more than 1,000 professors, 1,000 post-docs and 4,500 doctoral students, the city of Leuven is known for its many fields of expertise. The KU Leuven is a research-intensive and internationally oriented university, strong in social and biomedical sciences, engineering and technology. The long tradition of international high-tech business development strengthens the position of Leuven as an expert in health and high-tech even more. This expertise found in Leuven is for many organisations a leading factor for organising their business event or conference in this knowledge-based city.

Interested in our city? Planning a conference?

Find out more about Leuven and its opportunities through the CVB, Meeting Leuven & Vlaams-Brabant.

Meet us and save your seat in Leuven in 2016!