North-C-Neutral

North-C-Neutral is a spatial optimization project for the North Sea. It aims to provide answers on which technologies should be placed offshore and where. This includes renewable energy technologies like offshore wind, floating solar and many more. Aquaculture, fishery, shipping lanes and several other daily activities set at sea are incorporated into this optimization from the get-go. But what is ‘optimal’ for our Sea?

Coastal Vision 2100

Sea levels are rising due to climate warming. That is why the Flemish government is implementing the Coastal Safety Master Plan today to protect against flooding from the sea until 2050. The Coastal Vision project looks further. Indeed, during this co-creation research project various possibilities were sought to continue protecting our coast from various levels of sea level rise up to and including the year 2100.

Founder of the Blue Cluster

Ortelius was a co-initiator and coordinator in establishing the Blue Cluster, a spearhead cluster dedicated to fostering cross-sector partnerships and enhancing collaboration among private companies, knowledge centers, and government institutions within the blue economy. This cluster focuses on key sectors—such as fisheries, maritime transport, renewable ocean energy, coastal tourism, and marine biotechnology—with the aim of developing innovative projects and investments that address global challenges. Ortelius contributed to crafting the innovation roadmaps that serve as the strategic foundation for the cluster, guiding and prioritizing its activities, investments, and partnerships. Since gaining official recognition, the Blue Cluster has driven significant new investments and launched a range of innovative projects in the Belgian North Sea.

CASSANDRA

The CASSANDRA consortium aims to place a Living Lab on the Belgian coast that integrates various Nature-based solutions with the goal of unifying coastal protection and coastal management. The lab will serve as a research lab to monitor the benefits and functionalities of nature-based solutions. In the current feasibility study, Ortelius investigated the economic and financial feasibility of the living lab, looking very broadly at how nature-based solutions can be valorized in the future.

Authorship of ‘The Climate Shock’

This book, authored by Geert Noels, Kristof Eggermont, and Yanaika Denoyelle, quantifies 20 climate solutions that enable significant reductions in Belgian CO2 emissions by 2030. It is the result of extensive consultations with Belgian captains of industry, civic organizations, and policy officials.

Lecture series ‘The Climate Shock’

Our team regularly delivers lectures on topics within our economic expertise, tailored to meet the interests and needs of diverse audiences. One of our recent series focused on the “Climate Shock,” where we engaged in dialogues with various sectors, government representatives, and the public. Each lecture was adapted to fit the specific audience and organization, fostering meaningful conversations on climate action across different perspectives. In addition to climate, we also offer lectures on our other areas of expertise, always approached from an economic perspective. For those interested, please feel free to reach out, and we would be happy to discuss options that suit your audience and objectives.

Energy island off the Belgian coast

In 2018, Ortelius worked as exclusive economic-financial advisor in a consortium investigating the financial feasibility of an energy island off the Belgian coast. The feasibility study assumes a combination of innovative techniques for energy generation and storage on an artificial island. Such an island was already recognized by the European Commission in 2017 as a Project of Common Interest, PCI, confirming its importance. The focus of the feasibility study was on all energy-related activities and potential cost reductions and aims to contribute significantly to the energy transition in the coming years. Following the positive conclusions of the ETF-funded feasibility study, Ortelius was appointed as economic and financial advisor in developing the concrete business case of the energy island. No download is available of this project.

Financial feasibility of a CooPPA

In Belgium, there are currently 39 citizen cooperatives for renewable energy who want to harvest part of the ambient energy for their own use. They joined one of the federations RESCoop Flanders or RESCoop Wallonia to have their interests represented. The tender process in the Princess Elisabeth zone, which is also the subject of this assignment, is seen as an opportunity for these cooperative energy suppliers in Belgium to have them participate as suppliers in wind farm development on a large scale. To this end, these energy cooperatives united under an umbrella cooperative investment vehicle called Seacoop, which intends to apply to participate in the tendering process.

The Einstein Telescope

The Einstein Telescope is an ambitious and innovative European “Big Science” project that will provide groundbreaking research and discoveries. It is a large underground infrastructure to detect gravitational waves and will be built 200-300 meters underground in the shape of an equilateral triangle with sides of 10 km each. Laser beams in the arms will measure tiny changes (much smaller than the size of an atomic nucleus) through a central photodetector. One of the possible sites in Europe is near the border of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The Einstein Telescope is the world’s first telescope that allows us to explore the universe up to the Big Bang, allowing us to answer fundamental questions within physics and cosmology about dark matter, the Big Bang and the creation of the universe. This European project has many similarities to the CERN project in Geneva.

Econopolis Strategy was selected to assess the “return on investment” for Flanders. Based on this document, Flanders will make an investment decision in 2026. Download the complete report below!

Econodata

Ortelius has an in-house software tool, Econodata, which allows users to quickly and clearly access aggregated financial data on Belgian companies. The database was originally developed by the Finactum team and was acquired by Ortelius in June 2022, after which it has been further developed. The data source includes filed annual accounts at the National Bank and publications in the Belgian Official Gazette, among other data sources. The tool will be further developed in the future to map economic ecosystems in Belgium. Please contact us for more information.