Decision. For a Saturday-dinner trip to L’Air du Temps [2], only two in-radius 2026 events span a Saturday: KIKK Festival 21–25 Oct in central Namur [8] (the obvious pairing — digital-arts festival, ~20 km, runs Wed–Sun) and the CSLabs hackathon 27–29 Mar at UNamur [12]. The other three confirmed in-radius events fall on weekdays. If a single weekday off-site visit is acceptable, the AI talks at TRAIL in Louvain-la-Neuve (19 Mar) or the Mind & Market startup forum in LLN (14 Apr) are both ~22 km away. FOSDEM (31 Jan–1 Feb) in Brussels [15] sits just outside the radius at ~45 km / 50 min drive [5] — the biggest open-source event in the country and the strongest “stretch the circle” candidate.
The 30 km circle, calibrated
L’Air du Temps is at Rue de la Croix Monet 2, 5310 Liernu (Éghezée commune, Namur province) [1]. Liernu sits between Namur and Louvain-la-Neuve, so the 30 km circle is asymmetric:
| Anchor city | Approx. distance from Liernu | In radius? |
|---|---|---|
| Gembloux | ~10 km | ✓ |
| Namur | ~20 km | ✓ |
| Louvain-la-Neuve | ~20 km | ✓ |
| Wavre | ~25 km | ✓ |
| Charleroi | ~33 km | ✗ (close) |
| Brussels | ~45 km road | ✗ |
| Antwerp / Mons | ≥70 km | ✗ |
Practical consequence: the well-known Belgian tech mainstays — Devoxx (Antwerp) [20], DevFest Belgium (Mons), FOSDEM (Brussels) [15] — all fall outside. The “near L’Air du Temps” scene is the Namur ↔ Louvain-la-Neuve corridor.
Confirmed in-radius events, 2026
| Date | Event | City (~km) | Format | Saturday? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 23 Jan | ICSECS — Software Eng. for Cybersecurity | Namur (~20) | Academic conference | next day |
| Thu 19 Mar 15–18h | EU AI Week session @ TRAIL | LLN (~22) | Talks + showcases | no |
| Fri–Sun 27–29 Mar | CSLabs Hackathon “Hack the Narrative” | Namur (~20) | 48 h hackathon | yes |
| Tue 14 Apr | Forum Mind & Market Louvain-la-Neuve | LLN (~22) | Startup forum, ~850p | no |
| Wed–Sun 21–25 Oct | KIKK Festival (15th ed.) | Namur (~20) | Digital-culture fest | yes |
KIKK Festival — the headline pairing
Fifteenth edition. Five days of conferences for digital-sector professionals, a ~60-installation digital-art trail through central Namur (KIKK in Town), a designers’ market on Place d’Armes, and family/kids workshops on gaming, sound tech and robotics [8][9]. Saturday 24 Oct is the natural pivot day — KIKK by afternoon, 30-minute drive to Liernu for dinner. Official site: kikkfestival.be [7].
CSLabs Hackathon — the budget option
48-hour student hackathon at the UNamur Faculty of Computer Science on Rue Grandgagnage [12]. Theme: “Hack the Narrative” — digital-literacy projects framed around fiction (Black-Mirror-style scenarios). Free entry with a €20 refundable deposit; open to non-coders (design, storytelling, electronics welcome) [13]. Saturday 28 March is the full hack day; meals on-site, so the Saturday dinner is a deliberate escape.
Mind & Market LLN — only if you can shift the dinner
Tuesday 14 April, 08:30 onwards at the Aula Magna in Ottignies-LLN. Hybrid format — invitation-only workshops in the morning, public access from 12:45, pitches and AI demos in the afternoon. ~850 attendees, 100 startups, 80 partners [10]. Doesn’t anchor a Saturday — flag it only if the trip can flex to mid-week.
EU AI Week @ TRAIL — short slot, focused audience
Thursday 19 March, 15:00–18:00, at the TRusted AI Labs (TRAIL) ground floor, Place du Levant, Louvain-la-Neuve. Talks, project showcases, networking, AI researchers + industry [11]. Three-hour slot, weekday — useful only if you’re already in the area.
Just outside the circle, worth a mention
- FOSDEM 2026 — Sat 31 Jan & Sun 1 Feb, ULB Solbosch, Brussels [15]. Free, no registration, ~8000 attendees, biggest BE open-source event. ~45 km / 50 min drive from Liernu [5] — the strongest argument for stretching the radius, and the Saturday session 31 Jan pairs cleanly with the same-evening dinner.
- A6K / E6K Charleroi — ~33 km from Liernu [6]. Regional tech & industry hub; the E6K training-campus extension lands through fall 2026 [19]. Check their calendar near the trip dates.
- Devoxx Belgium — Mon 5–Fri 9 Oct, Kinepolis Antwerp [20]. National flagship dev conference but ~85 km away — different trip.
Year-round venues to check closer to the date
The in-radius cadence is driven by three hubs; their public agendas churn faster than annual conferences and are where ad-hoc tech evenings, AI demos and meetups appear.
| Venue | Where | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| TRAKK | Central Namur | “+Tech” evenings, FabLab open days, KIKK-adjacent workshops — 3 000 m² creative-tech hub jointly run with UNamur and KIKK [16] |
| TRAIL @ UCLouvain | Louvain-la-Neuve | AI labs that hosted the EU AI Week slot above — recurring talks and project showcases [11] |
| WSL incubator | Gembloux / LLN / Namur | Tech-entrepreneur incubator across all three in-radius cities — startup pitch nights, investor demos [17] |
| UNamur NaDI / PReCISE | Namur | Multidisciplinary digital research institute (big data, AI, security) — public seminars and PhD defences [18] |
Caveats
- “Within 30 km” is measured straight-line from Liernu; actual driving distance is 5–10 km longer through the rural road network east of Gembloux.
- Some date sources gave conflicting KIKK 2026 windows (22–25 vs 21–25 Oct); the 21–25 range is the one published by VisitWallonia and matches KIKK’s usual Wed–Sun cadence [8].
- The ICSECS listing comes from an aggregator [14], not the conference’s own page — confirm registration is open before planning around it.