Artificial Intelligence: From Wallonia to Mexico

Until the AI event organized by our Chamber of Commerce at the Odoo premises in late April, I had not concentrated on Walloon companies regarding their impact on that sector. These two letters are frequently mentioned, often as a fashionable trend or a perceived necessity during presentations to ensure the audience recognizes that our company is keeping pace. However, is there a cluster of AI companies from Wallonia that are active in Mexico? In preparation for the BMBC event, I began to review our past interactions to identify the companies we have assisted or engaged with in the realm of information technology. As I examined our records, I discovered more companies than I initially expected.

In the realm of industrial maintenance, numerous Belgian firms are operating in Mexico. Wallonia continues to be an industrial hub, with new enterprises emerging to enhance operational processes. Several of these companies focus on energy conservation, a critical issue in Europe, which heavily relies on gas and oil imports. Additionally, predictive maintenance has become a significant topic in the industrial sector. This approach utilizes AI-driven software to alert line managers of potential breakdowns well in advance — days or even weeks ahead — rather than just two hours prior. This advancement leads to increased predictability, reduced inventory of spare parts, and the elimination of expensive preventive maintenance.

In smart cities, Walloon companies use data to reduce electricity consumption and moderate the public lighting. According to one Belgian company on its website:

“Automating decisions based on these insights means that cities can save energy, prevent disruptions and improve living conditions. Street lights adjust their brightness according to real-time traffic and weather conditions, conserving energy while ensuring safety. They can even autonomously detect failures, enabling swift intervention to keep the city moving.

“If data is the raw material, automation is the structure that creates seamless processes to improve urban spaces.”

In audiovisual technologies, EVS Broadcast, also from Belgium and the world leader in this area, uses databases of millions of pictures to enhance replays of live events . The focus can be put on a player’s moves or even the player’s sweat. In Formula 1, the small sparks at the rear of the car can be augmented using past images. 

In pure software, ODOO helps your ERP fill in data more efficiently by detecting the sector of your provider or your client, making automatic links with past actions within the ERP. Another company, Maya Global, gathers the data from golf courses to help maintenance teams make the right decision and make sure the quality of the course is always adequate. 

So like any other sector, the AI is a market where a foreign trade agency can identify opportunities for their domestic companies. In Mexico, industrial maintenance is relevant and there is a lot of space to grow. As a tourism destination, golf courses could also use Belgian technologies, meanwhile Mexican cities are keen on becoming  “smart.” 

We are glad we can promote cutting-edge companies and get positive responses from the market. AI technologies are often easier to present from abroad than physical products. The Mexican company can quickly assess if the competitive advantage of the Belgian company makes it worth deepening the commercial relation to solve their challenges. 

Customers are also aware that AI can help save costs, as is the case for energy, maintenance expenses, and employees spending hours on software. Some of those technologies also have a positive impact on the environment. Besides financial performance, ESG performance can also drive the decision to adapt those technologies. 

It’s always a challenge to persuade companies to adopt new technologies, but then they realize that they might have no other choice if they want to stay competitive and be a company of the future. 

At the regional level in Wallonia, I would like to mention an initiative related to  AI. 

TRAIL4WALLONIA, a Strategic Innovation Initiative, aims at excellence in artificial intelligence by federating the whole Walloon ecosystem (R&D, training, companies) to seize the opportunities of today and tomorrow. Some of its main goals:

• Collaborate to innovate through research excellence and applied and collaborative projects to serve business; 

• Facilitate the adoption of AI on a large scale, notably by providing key resources and infrastructures for testing and validation; 

• Promote access to data and to mature technology bricks through the TRAIL Factory; 

• Train and create the talent needed for the Walloon ecosystem; 

• Impose a Walloon leadership around the TRAIL Institute by defining a scientific strategy, concentrating the means and mobilizing all the actors in the domain.

Being a relatively small region helps us to quickly foster a cluster of companies, academic institutions, and organizations. 

And being in Mexico helps us to identify opportunities at a larger scale, especially in the industrial sector. Solutions become reality, in Belgium and abroad. 

This article has been partly rewritten by AI.