How we select events

This is a curated agenda, not a complete one. We list events in the Netherlands and Belgium that people working on industrial strategy, economics, research and philosophy would plan their year around, and we check each one before it gets a confirmed listing.

What we cover

• Industrial strategy & policy: EU and national industrial policy, energy-intensive industry, raw materials and strategic autonomy.
• Economics: macroeconomics, finance and economic policy, from academic conferences to flagship policy forums.
• Research & innovation: science and innovation policy, research funding, and management and strategy research.
• Industry & technology: trade fairs, technology weeks and sector conferences, from semiconductors and energy to manufacturing, supply chains and digital.
• Philosophy: academic conferences and public festivals on ethics, technology, society and the philosophy of economics.

Formats range from academic conferences and EU policy forums to trade fairs, technical days and public philosophy festivals. We favour events with a substantial programme and named speakers, and we note whether there is an exhibition floor, which matters if you go to meet people.

Confirmed events

An event is listed as confirmed only when all of these hold:

A real organiser

An identifiable institution, company, association or public body with a track record: past editions, a registered organisation, or a university or EU institution behind it.

Official dates

The dates and city are published on the organiser's own page, or on a page the organiser runs or links to. We link to that page, never to resellers or copied listings.

Safe registration

Registration or ticket checkout runs on the organiser's site or on a ticketing platform the organiser itself links to.

A recent check

Each confirmed event shows the date we last checked it and what we checked. We check again as the event approaches and update or remove the listing if anything changes.

Save-the-dates

Many of the most useful events are announced late. To help you plan ahead, we also list two kinds of unconfirmed events, clearly marked and without a check stamp:

• Expected: a recurring event whose next edition isn't announced yet. The timing shown is based on past editions.
• Reported: dates that appear in a secondary source, such as a trade listing or partner page, but not yet on the organiser's own site.

Save-the-dates become confirmed listings once the organiser publishes the details.

What we leave out

• Investment, trading or crypto "masterclasses" and other events built around selling something to the audience.
• Events that ask for payment by bank transfer to a private person, or by gift card or crypto.
• Ticket resale listings and third-party pages copying an event they don't run.

Before you register

Open the organiser's page from our listing rather than from an ad or a social media post, and check that the checkout address matches the domain shown under the button. If anything differs from what we list, don't pay.