The Start AI programme, in collaboration with Agoria and VLAIO, offers SMEs a unique chance to experience the power of AI first-hand and lift their operations to a higher level.
Over the past year, we have mapped AI opportunities at more than ten companies through the programme, and realised tangible impact.
Many companies still believe that AI and serious investment in data are reserved for the big players. Together with Agoria, we are proving the opposite: these technologies are accessible, and they can propel companies of every size to greater heights.
What makes the SME context special is how quickly value becomes visible. Larger organisations often need months of alignment before a use case moves; in an SME, the distance between identifying an opportunity and acting on it is short. The owner is in the room, the data is two doors down, and the decision can be made over coffee.
The pattern across these ten-plus trajectories is consistent: the best opportunities are rarely the most glamorous ones. They hide in quotation processes, planning, stock decisions and document flows, the unglamorous middle of the business where a modest model with the right data quietly saves hundreds of hours.
Flemish SMEs do not lack AI potential. They lack a structured first step. That is exactly what Start AI provides.