Recently, the Operations Research Group of the University of Antwerp joined Beta. The main research topic of the group is the development of optimisation methods to solve a wide range of decision-making problems. Generally, their research is application-driven in the sense that models and algorithms are developed and studied out of a real-life need rather than because of theoretical interest. The group also has considerable expertise in developing (meta)heuristic and other algorithms and investigates how to design and test such methods in a scientifically valid way.

Also, from this year onwards, the Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre (MOBI) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel joined Beta. MOBI is a leader in defining the state-of-the-art in Electromobility and Socio-Economic Evaluations for sustainable mobility and logistics. The strength of the research centre resides in the combination of socio-economical, environmental & technical competencies, together with tools & assets developed explicitly for the sustainable transport sector. The University of Antwerp and Vrije Universiteit Brussels groups are a valuable addition to Beta and GP-OML. Beta looks forward to shaping these new partnerships.