In September 2022, VLIZ and its national and international partners (the European Marine Board, the EMODnet secretariat, the UNESCO/IOC Project Office for IODE, the Coastal Heritage unit and the Regional Office Coast of the province of West Flanders) together with the marine science division of the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) moved into the brand-new InnovOcean Campus located at Jacobsenstraat 1 in Ostend.
In a short space of time, the campus has become a landmark in the Ostend cityscape and a hub where people meet and work together in a convivial atmosphere. This is evidenced by the 2,343 activities, with a total of over 25,000 participants, that have been held in the building since its opening on 1 September 2022. These meetings and events were not just organised but also facilitated by VLIZ. For instance, governor of West Flanders and VLIZ chairman Carl Decaluwé held a well-attended press conference about underwater cultural heritage at the site. A delegation of Flemish diplomats paid us a visit. VLIZ received ambassadors from Iceland, Indonesia and Panama. And the executive council of the city of Ostend, the board of directors of the Flemish network of enterprises VOKA, and the mayors of the Belgian coastal towns held meetings on the campus.
VLIZ, ILVO and the different partners in the building welcomed all inhabitants of Ostend and other people who were interested to celebrate the inauguration of the InnovOcean Campus on Saturday 13 May 2023. Seven hundred visitors seized the opportunity to discover the new hub for marine research on the East Bank in Ostend and listen to experts explain its operation.
In 2022, the InnovOcean Campus building had already been awarded an A+ accessibility label, but in 2023, important steps were taken towards the highest possible accessibility level (A++). It was achieved on 21 March 2024.
The eye-catching building was the subject of several journalistic items in 2023 and featured on the cover of the periodical A+ Architecture in Belgium.