The contribution of industry (in a broad sense) to the regional welth continues to provide it with a key role in the Walloon economy. The emergence of new competitors on the international scene and an accelerating technical progress have, nevertheless, changed the development conditions of this industry.

Wallonia will not find its place in this new international work distribution unless it mobilizes its industrial capacities, its research and innovation potential and its potential man-power .

A new industrial policy is the 1st priority of the Cross-sectional Plan creation of activities and jobs adopted by the Walloon Government in August 2005.

This priority is reflected first by the strengthening of the synergies between all the operators and the networking, raised through 2 complementary policies :

• the competitiveness hubs policy which aims at implementing leading industrial and technological projects within the 5 sectors considered essential for the regional economy : Life Sciences, the Agri-Food Industry, the Aerospace Industry, Mechanical Engineering and Transport & Logistics.
• the clustering policy which supports, within a given field of activity, enterprises (and other relevant operators) willing to work together within the framework of collective actions (sectoral seminars, canvassing abroad, ...) and industrial or commercial partnership initiatives. After an experimental phase viewed as promisingby the Walloon Government, a régional Decree has been voted by the Parliament in January 2007.