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30 KM RADIUS · CASTOR

The 2026 calendar of IT & tech events · 30 km of Beveren-Leie

A 2026
almanac
of tech dates

Kortrijk Xpo and Howest do all the lifting. Inside a strict 30 km radius from Castor[20], the IT-event calendar is essentially Kortrijk (~13 km). Four named Xpo trade shows. Two Howest campus days. A four-event city-festival cluster collapsed into late October.

Ghent's bigger dev-community scene is ~36 km away[2] — just outside the circle. So community life within the radius is sporadic: a handful of meetups (BJUG, K-Tech, DigiPinguïns) and the steady monthly drumbeat of CoderDojo Waregem at the closest tech venue to Castor.

ANCHOR · 50.9038° N, 3.4533° E · KORTRIJKSEWEG 164, 8791 BEVEREN-LEIE
Colour by venue family
Kortrijk Xpo · industrial backbone (~13 km) Howest · campus days (~13 km) Festival cluster · UNWRAP / FTI / WONDER / Mutation Community / meetups · BJUG, K-Tech, DigiPinguïns, CoderDojo
§ 01

The year, day by day

10 flagged events · 6 monthly meetups · 1 cluster
01 / 12 January quiet · community
5 10 15 20 25 30
Sat 17CoderDojo Waregem Wed 21BJUG @ Sweet Mustard
02 / 12 February industrial · open
5 10 15 20 25 30
4–6 FebIndumation.be · automation, IIoT, robotics, AIfree Sat 21CoderDojo Waregem
03 / 12 March double-booked · 26 Mar
5 10 15 20 25 30
Sat 14CoderDojo Waregem Thu 26Howest Onderzoeksdagfree 26–27 MarMachineering NextGenfree
04 / 12 April dojo only
5 10 15 20 25 30
Sat 18CoderDojo Waregem
05 / 12 May dojo · 10 yr
5 10 15 20 25 30
Sat 23CoderDojo Waregem · 10-year anniversary 🎂
06 / 12 June student showcase
5 10 15 20 25 30
Sat 20CoderDojo Waregem Wed 24Tech Connect · Howestfree
07 / 12 July recess
5 10 15 20 25 30
— summer recess · no flagged events within 30 km —
08 / 12 August recess
5 10 15 20 25 30
— summer recess · no flagged events within 30 km —
09 / 12 September energy · xpo
5 10 15 20 25 30
23–24 SepSustainable Solutions · Smart Storage, EV, Solarfree
10 / 12 October ★ peak month
5 10 15 20 25 30
Thu 8ABISS · IIoT, smart factory, OT/ITpaid 26 Oct →FTI Kortrijk opens → 27 Oct →WONDER Festival opens → 29–30UNWRAPpaid
11 / 12 November festival tail
5 10 15 20 25 30
→ 8 NovFTI Kortrijk · gaming, EdTech, design → 8 NovWONDER · design × tech × art trail overlapMutation Festival · “Why Tech”
12 / 12 December recess
5 10 15 20 25 30
— year-end recess · no flagged events within 30 km —
Cluster · book one trip

Four festivals collide in late October.

If you pick one window for a Castor weekend + tech, this is it. The umbrella Flanders Technology & Innovation festival[19] opens 16 Oct across eight cities; Kortrijk's leg is curated by Hangar K[18]. Three more festivals fold into the same fortnight — paid deep tracks at UNWRAP, free-to-mixed city programming everywhere else.

FTI Kortrijk festival imageryFTI Kortrijk
26 Oct → 8 Nov · 14 days

FTI Kortrijk

Hangar K-curated city festival around gaming, EdTech and design. Day & evening programme across multiple venues.[10]

Mixed
WONDER Creativity Festival imageryWONDER
27 Oct → 8 Nov · 13 days

WONDER Creativity Festival

Multi-venue trail across Kortrijk celebrating design, innovation, technology and art. UNESCO City of Design.[12]

Mixed
UNWRAP
29–30 Oct · 2 days

UNWRAP

Digital-entertainment summit, 10 tracks: Game Tech, AI, VFX, Open Source, Music Innovation, Career. Sint-Martens-Latemlaan 1B.[11]

Paid
Mutation Festival imageryMutation
late Oct → Nov · overlap

Mutation Festival

Theme “Why Tech”: AI, Bring-Your-Own-Beamer, hackathons, textile-tech, biology, music.[13]

Mixed
§ 02

The recurring drumbeat

community · meetups · cadence is irregular

Software-developer community life within 30 km is thin and Kortrijk-centric. Plan around individual sessions, not annual conferences. Re-check pages close to your trip — these cadences drift.

CoderDojo Waregem ★ closest tech venue · 4 km

Free monthly Saturday coding sessions 09:30–12:15 for kids 7–17 at Bibliotheek Waregem, Boekenplein 1. Eventbrite registration.[17]

2026 dates · all Saturdays
17 Jan 21 Feb 14 Mar 18 Apr 23 May · 10 yr 20 Jun
Belgian Java User Group JVM · free · ~25–30 ppl

Visits Kortrijk roughly 1–2× per year at Sweet Mustard (Nijverheidskaai 3). One confirmed 2026 evening in Kortrijk; most other dates are Gent.[14]

Kortrijk dates · 21 Jan 2026 confirmed
K-Tech Meetup 786 members

Kortrijk-Technology group covering IoT, cloud, AI, robotics, automation and blockchain. Lean Coffee evening discussion at Nijverheidskaai 3.[15]

Wed evenings 19:00 · cadence irregular
DigiPinguïns FOSS/Linux · ~99 members

Kortrijk-region FOSS/Linux meetup. Occasional evenings, bring-your-laptop format.[16]

Occasional · no fixed cadence
Hangar K co-creation hub · curator

Kortrijk co-creation hub for start-ups and scale-ups. Hosts SPARK! pitch nights and curates much of the FTI Kortrijk programme.[18]

Check the calendar for one-off Tech Talks
§ 03

Just outside the circle

if your trip can stretch

The 30 km radius cuts Ghent off by 6 km[2] — and Ghent is where the larger Belgian dev-community calendar actually lives.

Ghent
~36 KM · OUT
Most BJUG meetups, Fronteers BE chapters, Software Crafting & Testing BE, FTI Gent Summit at the Wintercircus.
Bruges
~42 KM · OUT
The other West-Flemish FTI 2026 leg[19].
Brussels
~85 KM · OUT
FOSDEM, AI-focused conferences. Clearly out of radius.
Antwerp
~95 KM · OUT
Devoxx. Out of radius.

How to read the chronogram

Each row is a month, 1 → 31 left-to-right. Chip width approximates date span; chip colour names the venue family (see legend). Quiet months are dimmed. The boxed convergence panel is the year's peak — late-Oct/early-Nov city-festival cluster.

Dates verified against organiser sites May 2026. Meetup cadences drift; re-check before booking.

Inside / outside the 30 km circle

  • IN Kortrijk (~13 km) · Waregem (~4 km) · Roeselare (~17 km) · Tielt (~20 km) · Izegem (~13 km) · Deinze (~17 km) · Oudenaarde (~22 km) · Wevelgem (~13 km) · Menen (~17 km)
  • OUT Ghent (~36 km) · Bruges (~42 km) · Brussels (~85 km) · Antwerp (~95 km)
  • IN Industrial automation + Industry 4.0 trade shows, applied-research days, digital-entertainment festivals, dev/FOSS community meetups
  • OUT Pure design fairs (e.g. Biennale Interieur) excluded