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Open doors for the future of our city. This was and& day 4

7 May 2018

All doors opened wide as day four kicked off with a line-up free of access for the public. Inhabitants of the region could discover new technologies and innovations themselves at several locations in the city. "Fly a drone, command a robot or discover a new world with VR goggles, anything is possible today", Mohamed Ridouani, Leuven's Elderman for economy, mentions.

At Hal 5, and& Play was held to involve the families from the region and young people and get them acquainted with the things our region is known for. Kids and their parents were seen as they discovered all sorts of new technologies in an interactive way.

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This day was also a great testcase for the MaakLeerPlek. This place is set to become a large public workshop where creativity, community and cooperation will thrive and where participants can come to for sharing equipment, space and knowledge. "Next to the more arts & crafts section, with machines to modify wood and steel and a ceramic furnace as well, there will also be a more innovative part at MaakLeerPlek", Lore Baeyens from Samen Onderwijs Maken (SOM), mentions. "There will be space for virtual reality, 3D printing and app development."

Talks by local thinkers & entrepreneurs
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© Lissa Van Eesbeeck

Back at M Museum, those interested could follow several talks by great thinkers and entrepreneurs on the crossover of health, high-tech and creativity and what it means for the region of Leuven and its citizens.

Professor Wim Tambeur gave a talk on how Leuven is becoming the city of the future, professor Kevin Verstrepen on food innovation, Mieke Nieuwdorp joined the talk on innovation in health and Tine Van Lommel spoke about means to get the inhabitants of Leuven healthy and fit. Meanwhile, our Project Manager Jo De Wachter moderated an interesting session on data science.

Prepping the future
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© Lissa Van Eesbeeck

Another activity at M Museum was DigiGirlz, an initiative by Microsoft. Girls between 7 and 12 years were invited to discover technology and innovation in a creative way.

Just next door at the Maria Theresia College, KU Leuven offered a unique experience. About 200 children partook in a children's university. Here, real professors taught them about the future of our cities and what role they will be playing in it.

The closing festival night was quickly sold out.A muscular roof-raising live show, one of the most acclaimed underground dj’s in the world to our 5-headed hyperkinetic & genre bending live-pride & local heroes & much more were a fitting closure of our first edition.

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© Maxikamera

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