Cold calling in Leuven and Flemish Brabant: research, IT and the airport

B2B calling in Flemish Brabant means calling two markets that share one province: the research and tech scene around Leuven, and the head offices, distributors and airport firms in the rim around Brussels. The province had 1,205,743 residents on 1 January 2025 and a GDP of 68.7 billion euro in 2024. IT services employed 23,758 people in 2024, second only to Antwerp among the Flemish provinces, according to Eurostat. Expect informed buyers who want a precise reason for your call.

The economy of Flemish Brabant

This is the least industrial of the five Flemish provinces. In 2024, manufacturing accounted for 7.8% of the jobs Eurostat counts in local units here, against 14.7% to 18.8% elsewhere in Flanders. What fills the gap is knowledge, trade and transport.

Leuven and research. Scientific research and development employs 4,409 people in 185 local units, the most of the five Flemish provinces. The anchor is the university: KU Leuven has spun out more than 180 companies. Next to it, the nanoelectronics research centre imec employed about 4,000 people at its Leuven site out of 5,500 in total, according to Leuven MindGate in 2023. Around them sit biotech, medtech and software firms, many of them young.

IT and software. 6,087 local units in IT services with 23,758 jobs, spread between Leuven and the offices along the ring around Brussels.

The airport and the Brussels rim. Brussels Airport in Zaventem handled 24.4 million passengers and 795,000 tonnes of cargo in 2025, with cargo up 8.5%. Air transport employs 5,359 people in the province. Wholesale employs 35,328 people in 4,457 local units, from local distributors to the Belgian and Benelux sales offices of international groups.

By number of local units, professional services lead (24,518), followed by construction (17,032) and trade (15,139).

The chart above counts local units in Eurostat's structural business statistics for 2024. That dataset leaves out agriculture and public administration, so farms and growers are not counted in it.

Where the companies are

• Leuven and Heverlee: university, university hospital, imec, spin-offs and the research parks such as Haasrode, plus IT and consultancy firms in the city.
• Zaventem, Diegem and Machelen: Brussels Airport, air cargo, office parks and the Benelux head offices of international groups.
• Vilvoorde: offices, logistics and distribution along the canal and the ring.
• Halle and the Pajottenland: family firms, builders and services on the south-west side of Brussels.
• Tienen, Aarschot and Diest: the Hageland and the east, with agri-food, sugar processing in Tienen and small industry.

Who to call and what to ask

At young tech and life sciences firms, the founder or CEO decides, often together with a head of operations or a CTO. At the Benelux offices of international groups, call the country or Benelux manager, the head of sales or the operations manager, and expect that larger decisions go to a European head office. At the university and research centres, purchasing follows procedures; find the department head who owns the problem first. In the Hageland and Pajottenland, the owner still decides.

Questions that fit Flemish Brabant:

1. Which decisions do you take locally, and which go to your European or group head office?
2. What changes when your team grows past the next hiring round?
3. Which part of your work with customers still runs on spreadsheets?
4. When is your next budget or funding moment?
5. Who else would need to be in a first meeting for it to be useful?

Informed buyers need a clear, specific ask. Our guide on asking for the meeting shows how to close the call with one.

Calling in Flemish Brabant: practical notes

• Language. Call in Dutch. Around Brussels, in Zaventem and in the municipalities with language facilities, many contacts speak French or work in English; follow the language of the person who answers.
• Voka Flemish Brabant. Voka Flemish Brabant is the provincial chamber of commerce, one of the Voka chambers that together unite more than 18,000 businesses. Its events are where owners and managers from Leuven to the Brussels rim meet.
• Leuven MindGate connects the tech and health ecosystem around Leuven, and UNIZO serves smaller firms. Go to listen and learn the local agenda.
• Data quality. Head offices and international groups move people often. Check that the person on your list still holds the role, and handle personal data with care; see our guide to B2B lead lists and the GDPR.
• Rules. Calling businesses is allowed in Belgium, but first check your numbers against the Bel-me-niet-meer list, which also covers business numbers, and honour every objection. Our summary of the cold calling rules in Belgium and the Netherlands covers the main points; it is general information, not legal advice.

A first week of calling in Flemish Brabant

1. Day 1: one list. Either 100 young tech and life sciences firms around Leuven, or 100 Benelux offices around Zaventem and Vilvoorde.
2. Day 2: a script built on one sharp question about their growth or their head office, and one clear ask.
3. Days 3 and 4: calling blocks mid-morning and mid-afternoon, when office-based managers are at their desk.
4. Day 5: follow-up. Send the short note you promised and plan the next step with each person who showed interest.

To see how a calling block looks in Ringlane, open the demo.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Eurostat: Enterprises and local units by NUTS 2 region and NACE Rev.2 activity (sbs_r_nuts2021)
2. Eurostat: Population on 1 January by NUTS 2 region (demo_r_d2jan)
3. Eurostat: Gross domestic product by NUTS 2 region (nama_10r_2gdp)
4. Brussels Airport: 24.4 million passengers at Brussels Airport in 2025
5. Leuven MindGate: Leuven's imec research centre targets 1,950 new hires by 2035
6. KU Leuven Research & Development: Spin-off companies
7. Voka: Vlaams-Brabant
8. Voka: Organisation chart of the Voka chambers of commerce

• How to ask for the meeting on a cold call: what commitment research shows
• B2B lead lists and the GDPR: a practical guide for sales teams