Recently, we created a Meetup group for data enthusiasts in Belgium who have a keen interest in Data Mesh . It's fantastic to see that the community has grown rapidly and counts almost 100 members! This community serves as a platform for individuals to connect, share their knowledge and collaborate on exciting projects related to data mesh. By bringing together like-minded people, we aim to create a vibrant community that fosters innovation and growth in the field of data management. On the 14th of March, we hosted our first Data Mesh Belgium meetup at our Hasselt office. During this evening, we brought together experts and enthusiasts in the field. Partnering up with two esteemed data experts, Wannes Rosiers and Mathias Lavaert, we were treated to a pair of inspiring talks on the topic of data mesh! The goal of the meetup was to foster knowledge sharing and explore innovative solutions related to this emerging approach. Data mesh is an exciting development in the world of data and software architectures in general, offering a decentralized and distributed approach to building data-driven solutions at scale. The evening started with some delicious pizza and drinks, providing a relaxed atmosphere for attendees to get to know each other a little bit. Then, the experts took the stage to give two talks on various topics related to mata desh. Wannes Rosiers delivered a talk on demystifying data mesh and how to tackle common misconceptions. Mathias Lavaert shared his insights on technical foundations for a data mesh. The talks were insightful and sparked some great discussions among the attendees. At the end of the event, there was an opportunity for attendees to network and share their own experiences with each other. It was a great way to connect with others in the field and learn more about the latest developments in data mesh. The power of data mesh ⚡ Unlike traditional monolithic data architectures, which are difficult to scale and maintain, data mesh is designed to be more decentralized and distributed, with individual domains owning their own data and having their own teams responsible for the data's governance, quality, and delivery. We're excited to see such strong interest in this emerging approach, and look forward to hosting more events in the future to continue the conversation. Thank you to everyone who attended and made this event a success! We're excited to be at the forefront of the data mesh movement. Learn more about our data mesh services by clicking the button below: Check out our Data Mesh Services

A new player in the energy market. One that goes against the current. Ecofix Gas Power wants to give their customers insight into their consumption in a simple way, in order to help them save. Central to that promise: intuitive digital tools. Together with the founders, we took care of both the technical and branding track.

Last week, our office in Antwerp buzzed with excitement as we hosted the Flutter Belgium Meetup #22 ! It was an evening packed with insightful talks, engaging discussions, and plenty of Flutter enthusiasm. For those who missed it, don’t worry—the videos of all the talks are now available on YouTube! Here's a quick rundown of what went down: Lightning talks ⚡️ Widget of the Meetup : Baseline by Jens Gyselinck ⚡️ Fancy Fortune Wheels by William Verhaeghe ⚡️ Is the Hosting of My Mobile App Production Ready? by Johan Soetewey Talks 📣 Full Stack Dart by Brent Van Vosselen 📣 Publishing a Production-Ready Flutter App in 20 Minutes with the Codika CLI by Romain Pattyn A huge thanks to all the speakers, attendees, and organizers for making this meetup a success. Stay tuned for more updates on future meetups! 🚀 Join the Flutter Belgium meetup

We are thrilled to announce that our very own Tom De Wolf , Data Mesh expert at ACA Group, will be hosting and curating Data Mesh Live 2025 , the new conference dedicated to the Data Mesh community. The event will take place in Antwerp, Belgium, from June 4-6, 2025 , and will be co-located with Domain-Driven Design (DDD) Europe and EventCentric. About Data Mesh Live Data Mesh Live is a community-driven conference, organised by Aardling (aardling.eu) and curated by Tom De Wolf, recognized as a Data Mesh Learning community MVP and organizer of the Data Mesh Belgium Meetup . The conference aims to bring together professionals and enthusiasts to explore the challenges and opportunities in implementing Data Mesh. According to Tom, " There are a lot of challenges and aspects to consider when implementing Data Mesh. Data Mesh Live provides the ideal opportunity to learn from experts in the field and interact with peers who are passionate about Data Mesh. " Why attend Data Mesh Live? Expert insights : Gain knowledge from leading experts covering all four principles of Data Mesh and topics like Platform Architecture, Data Product Management, Federated Governance, and Decentralized Ownership. Community engagement : Network with like-minded professionals and participate in constructive discussions and collaborations. Cross-pollination of ideas : Benefit from the co-location with DDD Europe and EventCentric, fostering cross-disciplinary learning in areas like Domain-Driven Design, Product Thinking, System Thinking, Evolutionary Architectures, Platform Engineering, and Team Topologies. Experience Antwerp : Enjoy the vibrant culture and history of Antwerp while attending the conference. Check out our Data Mesh services! Who should attend? Whether you're a data engineer, data manager, data governance professional, software engineer, architect, or a management-level executive interested in Data Mesh, this conference is for you. It's ideal for anyone involved in or considering embarking on a Data Mesh journey. Tom envisions Data Mesh Live as the annual in-person conference driven by and for the Data Mesh community. " By bringing together like-minded people around Data Mesh, we aim to connect them and trigger constructive discussions and collaborations ," he says. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a pioneering event that aims to revolutionize Data Management practices. Register now For more information and to register, please visit https://2025.datameshlive.com .

The Belgian React Native community is back! On Thursday, December 5, ACA Group hosted the very first React Native Belgium meetup at their brand-new office in Antwerp. With around thirty enthusiastic participants, engaging talks, and a vibrant atmosphere, the event was a resounding success. Reviving the React Native community 🚀 "The React Native community in Belgium had been dormant for years, but with this first meetup in Antwerp, we’ve brought it back to life", says Jeffrey Vanelderen , who organized the event together with ACA colleague Jana Mineur . "The goal of this meetup is to bring people together, share knowledge about new developments, and spark inspiration for personal projects. It’s also a great opportunity to network with peers and get a pulse on what’s happening in the IT world." Inspiring talks The evening began with an informal reception where participants enjoyed pizza 🍕 and drinks. ACA Group then kicked off the night with two compelling talks : Talk 1: Accessibility in React Native apps Joren Vos , Mobile Solution Engineer at ACA Group for over 10 years, discussed accessibility in React Native apps . Drawing on his experience with projects at De Lijn , he shared insights on building accessible apps that are user-friendly for everyone, including people with disabilities. “As a developer, it’s crucial to always consider accessibility”, says Jeffrey. “Many people rely on screen readers and additional component explanations in apps, and Joren provided practical tips on implementing these features.” Talk 2: Latest updates in React Native architecture Tim Claes , a seasoned Mobile and Web Engineer with over 15 years of experience, explored the latest updates in React Native’s architecture . He discussed improved performance and the impact of upgrades on existing projects. “Tim addressed questions we developers often have”, adds Jeffrey. “For example: Is it worthwhile to upgrade our projects? What are the risks? How does it impact our code?” The talks were well-received by the audience. “The participants were extremely enthusiastic” says Jeffrey. “We saw this excitement even beforehand, as registrations came in quickly, proving the community is still very much alive.” Looking ahead to more successful React Native meetups! After the talks, there was time for networking. With drinks in hand, participants exchanged ideas and experiences. “A meetup like this is about more than just sharing technical knowledge”, emphasizes Jeffrey. “It’s also about building connections within the community .” The organizers are already looking forward to the next edition. “We’ve received interest from other companies wanting to host the next event”, says Jeffrey. “Hopefully, we can keep the community active with a new meetup in the spring of 2025.” With this successful kickoff, React Native Belgium has established itself as a platform for knowledge-sharing and collaboration in the Belgian tech scene. We are looking forward to the next meetup! 📲 Want to stay updated on the React Native community in Belgium? Join the community!

14 November 2024 - We recently hosted the 4th edition of our Data Mesh Belgium Meetup . For the fourth time, we brought together data enthusiasts and professionals to share trends, insights and innovations in the world of data mesh. Inspiring talks 🎙️ Tom Baeyens “Toddlers, Discipline, and Data Reliability in Data Mesh” Tom shared how the essence of data products in a Data Mesh lies in creating interconnected data components. These components interact through datasets governed by data contracts, quality checks, and component testing. Even without adopting a full organizational data mesh transformation, applying these software engineering best practices to data pipelines is a rising trend to enhance Data Reliability. 🎙️ Frederic Lebeau “Securing Data Mesh Collaboration with Confidential Computing" Frederic delved into Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) and confidential computing. He demonstrated how data products can securely process confidential data using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). These environments enable trusted workloads with end-to-end encryption, ensuring that data access remains restricted to the workload itself ( not users) and operates without sharing credentials. We want to thank Soda and DataVillage for partnering with us to make this edition once again a great success! What's next? 💡 Want to stay in the loop for future meetups? Join our community to stay informed about upcoming events. 🗓️ More Data Mesh news! We are excited to share that our very own Tom De Wolf will be hosting and curating Data Mesh Live 2025 , the new conference dedicated to the Data Mesh community. The event will take place in Antwerp, from 4-6 June 2025, and will be co-located with DDD Europe and EventCentric .

We are proud to receive the prestigious ‘ Baanbrekende Werkgever ’ label for the third consecutive year . This certification, awarded by Antwerp Management School, highlights our commitment to sustainable mobility and a people-centered HR policy. As a Baanbrekende Werkgever, we continue to invest in a forward-thinking work and mobility policy, with a focus on people. Our three-year journey shows how we have grown step by step in this area: A Sustainable Three-Year Journey Year 1: Green mobility In our first year, we focused on making our mobility solutions more sustainable. We encouraged using (e-)bikes, shared vehicles, and public transport. We transitioned to environmentally-friendly alternatives such as electric vehicles for employees who still opted for a car. Our goal? To have 98% of our fleet emission-free by 2025. Year 2: Wellbeing policy In the second year, the focus shifted to the wellbeing of our employees. We developed initiatives to strengthen team cohesion and created an environment where employees feel heard and supported. Healthy and happy teams are, after all, the key to success. Year 3: Talent development This year, we focused on establishing a sustainable career policy. This includes: Encouraging the professional growth of our employees. Offering transparency about learning and growth opportunities within our organization. Promoting and utilizing each individual's unique talents. We believe that investing in talent development helps employees grow and makes our organization stronger and more future-proof. The Champion Sessions, which were part of the Baanbrekende Werkgever program, was an incredibly valuable experience. They allowed us to get inspiration from companies like DPG Media and Aquafin. During these interactive sessions, HR professionals shared valuable insights and ideas, which was truly inspiring. — Emma Doumen, Talent Aquisition Specialist at ACA Group Looking to the future With the ‘Baanbrekende Werkgever 2025’ recognition, we are taking another important step on our journey towards sustainability. We see it as our responsibility to contribute not only to a more sustainable planet but also to a promising future. Participating in the Baanbrekende Werkgever program gave us the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences with other organizations integrating sustainability into their HR policies. This allowed us to better understand our challenges and take concrete steps towards future-oriented talent development. — Tamara Smets, Talent Development Specialist at ACA Group We will continue to build a work culture where mobility, wellbeing, and talent development align seamlessly with our core values. Earning this certification is a recognition of the collective efforts of our teams.

Brussels, Belgium — On November 14, 2024, Peter Jans, Cloud Manager at ACA Group, and Sven Houtmeyers, CTO at Publiq, will join industry leaders at the AWS for Industries Symposium in Brussels to present insights on a pioneering data-driven platform. Developed in collaboration with ACA Group, Publiq, and the Flemish Department of Culture, Youth and Media (CJM), this Data Mesh-enabled platform has been created to revolutionize the Flemish cultural sector by fostering cross-institutional data sharing and enhancing public engagement with cultural offerings. A platform for resilience and growth in the cultural sector Amid the challenges posed by the recent pandemic, the Flemish cultural sector has undergone significant strain, prompting a renewed focus on digital transformation as a recovery strategy. This initiative, part of CJM's Targeted Digital Transformation program, aims to connect audiences with cultural events through personalized recommendations and foster informed decision-making among cultural organizers. By creating a unified cloud-native platform called the UiTwisselingsplatform , CJM promotes data-sharing across a broad cultural network using an ecosystem powered by Linked Open Data and OSLO-standardization. This platform allows cultural data providers and users—ranging from event organizers to policymakers—to benefit from enriched audience insights, optimized ticketing, and streamlined administration, all within a secure, GDPR-compliant environment. Flanders Digital Awards: A double nomination for impact and sustainability This collaborative effort has earned CJM two nominations at the 2023 Flanders Digital Awards , recognizing the UiTwisselingsplatform’s transformative and sustainable approach. Competing in the Best Digital Transformation and Most Sustainable Project categories, the project highlights the sector's potential to collectively manage shared infrastructure and reduce redundancy in data entry and analysis, lowering costs and facilitating growth. Enabling innovation through Data Mesh and Cloud Native principles Underpinning this platform is the Data Mesh approach, which empowers organizations of varying technological maturity to collaborate effectively within their domains while sharing valuable data as "products." This setup encourages seamless data exchanges between "producers" and "consumers," enabling the cultural sector to scale sustainably and efficiently as more stakeholders join the platform to either access open data or share it with others to build new services and products. This platform using AWS at it’s core has been extended with Cloud Native toolings mainly Kubernetes, Tekton, etcd, containerD, Harbor, Istio, EFK, KNative, SonarCube, Flux, and Terraform to create a Platform Engineering toolset. This empowers the cloud engineers and the software engineers to focus on what they to best, self-service its needs and have the platform operate by itself with minimal manual interventions, resilience and auto-scaling.

ACA is excited to share that Tom De Wolf, DataMesh expert, presented at PlatformCon 2024, the largest platform engineering event globally. His talk, now live, explores using Kubernetes operators in platform engineering, providing practical insights for supporting microservice developers and data products engineers. PlatformCon 2024 Tom De Wolf , Architect Innovation Lead at ACA Group, delivered an enlightening talk at PlatformCon 2024 , the world’s largest platform engineering event. With over 150 speakers selected from more than 800 submissions and an impressive attendance of 30,000 virtual participants, PlatformCon continues to set the bar high for industry knowledge sharing. In his talk, Tom dove deep into the topic "Raise the Level of Abstraction: Engineering a Platform Using Kubernetes Operators". He highlighted how Kubernetes operators and Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) can significantly lower the cognitive load on developers by creating higher-level abstractions in the Platform Orchestrator. This approach not only supports the creation of microservices for application development, but also facilitates the development of data products within a data mesh. The focus of the session was on empowering developers by abstracting away the accidental complexity of underlying infrastructure and technology. This "shift-left" strategy allows developers to work more autonomously, ultimately enabling them to deliver more value. Key takeaways Key takeaways from the talk included: How to engineer and design platforms using cloud-native technologies and Kubernetes. Utilizing Kubernetes Operators and CRDs to define fit-for-purpose abstractions. Example patterns for designing a Platform Orchestrator for your platform. Practical application for microservices within software engineering and data products within a data mesh. Did you miss the live session? No worries! You can watch the full take in the video below!

We are proud to announce that the international Data Mesh Learning Community has recognized ACA's Data Mesh Expert, Tom De Wolf, as a valued contributor and thought leader in the Data Mesh community. This spotlight shows Tom's incredible contributions and expertise in the Data Mesh Domain and firmly positions ACA as a trailblazer in this exciting, innovative field. {% module_block module "widget_c0451ebb-10d4-4807-af8e-9586f9f32457" %}{% module_attribute "child_css" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}null{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "css" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}null{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "image" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}{"src":"https://25145356.fs1.hubspotusercontent-eu1.net/hubfs/25145356/imported/png/1720526472-data-mesh-socials.png","alt":"Tom De Wolf - Data Mesh MVP","size_type":null,"loading":"disabled","width":1772,"height":1181}{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "isJsModule" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}true{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "label" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}null{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "module_id" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}201505087685{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "path" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"@projects/aca-group-project/aca-group-app/components/modules/Image"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "schema_version" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}2{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "styles" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}{"aspectRatio":"16/9"}{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "tag" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"module"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% end_module_block %} The Data Mesh Learning Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Program honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional expertise and commitment to sharing knowledge in an unbiased, kind, and objective manner. This recognition proves the hard work and dedication over the past few years. Tom De Wolf has been instrumental in founding the Data Mesh Belgium Meetup and actively sharing knowledge through various webinars, round tables, panel discussions, conference talks, and Slack discussions. Joining the MVP Team alongside Andrew Sharp, Amy Raygada, Eric Broda, Jean-Georges Perrin, Karin Håkansson, Wannes Rosiers, Kinda El Maarry, PhD, and Scott Hirleman, Tom De Wolf is committed to strengthening the Data Mesh community even further. If you need objective and independent advice on Data Mesh, want to exchange ideas, or dive deep into why platform engineering is essential for a Data Mesh journey and how to architect your platform, you can connect with Tom via LinkedIn or the Data Mesh Learning Slack channels. For more information on the MVP Team, who are actively promoting and educating the community on all things data mesh, visit Data Mesh Learning MVPs . Join the conversation and become part of the Data Mesh Learning Community by joining the Data Mesh Learning Slack

Last month, Tom De Wolf , Data Mesh Expert at ACA Group, delivered an insightful online webinar for the international Data Mesh community. Tom De Wolf's presentation detailed our data mesh journey within the Flemish Cultural Sector, and explained the immense added value of our Data Mesh approach, emphasizing the self-service capabilities for both data product developers and consumers. The session also touched upon the architecture, operating model, and governance of the platform. Missed the live session? No worries! You can watch the full recording here: This initiative was a collaborative effort between ACA Group, the Department of Culture, Youth and Media, and publiq vzw. Our effort also earned the Flanders Digital Award 2023 for Best Digital Transformation Project. In collaboration with the Flemish Government and publiq, we delivered a groundbreaking project. Together, we created a data-driven platform for the cultural sector, harnessing the power of Data Mesh. This platform has significantly contributed to the digital transformation of the Flemish cultural sector, showcasing an innovative approach that encourages collaboration and efficiency. Learn more about the project on our Customer Success Stories page . A big thank you to the Data Mesh Learning Community for organizing and providing this opportunity! 📺 Watch the Recording Now

4th of June 2024 - We recently hosted the third successful Data Mesh Belgium meetup at the Google office in Brussels. Partnering with Google and co-host Peter Billen, the event brought together data enthusiasts and professionals to explore the latest advancements and insights in the field of data mesh. Speakers of the third Data Mesh Belgium meetup The event featured three expert speakers , each providing unique perspectives on data mesh implementation and experiences. Steve Loh (Google) kicked-off the sessions with his talk "Implementing Data Mesh on Google Cloud: A Practical Guide." Steve delved into the principles of data mesh, and highlighted how Google Cloud services like BigQuery, Dataplex, and Looker can become building blocks when building a data mesh platform. Tom De Wolf (ACA Group) shared interesting insights from the Flemish cultural sector. His talk, "Engineering a Data Mesh Platform for an Ecosystem Across Organisations," highlighted the challenges and successes of implementing a data mesh platform that supports multiple organizations. This real-world case study underscored the potential of data mesh in driving digital transformation within the cultural sector. The presentation took the audience on a journey through the need for data mesh, the data product developer and consumer experience, how platform engineering enabled it, and how the typical data mesh operating model is mapped across organisations. Jean-Georges Perrin (AbeaData) concluded the expert talks. With his session, "We Built a Data Mesh at PayPal, Then Discovered That Data Contracts Were Essential," Jean-Georges shared valuable lessons from PayPal's data mesh journey, emphasizing the critical role of data contracts and the importance of standards like the Open Data Contract Standard (ODCS) from the Bitol project hosted by The Linux Foundation. Going from using data contracts, to defining data products, and meshing them up in a data mesh could be considered as an evolution path for your data management strategy. Having standard specifications for data contracts and data products in between the different tools enables better interoperability and composability of data mesh platforms. Successful third Data Mesh Belgium meetup The meetup was once again a great success, strengthening the awesome community of data professionals eager to share knowledge and collaborate on the future of data mesh. We look forward to seeing you at the next Data Mesh Belgium meetup! 💡 Stay informed about next meetups by joining the Data Mesh community: Join the Data Mesh Belgium community