Project 21 is a firm that specialises in the layout of public spaces, public lighting, road traffic safety and mobility management. The Namur-based SME, which made its name in urban lighting when it won the Plan Lumière for the city of Charleroi is now setting its sights on even bigger dreams.

A few years ago, Project 21c made its entry into the SmartCities era: its innovative lighting solutions enable the detection of breakdowns, count passers-by and even provide an overview of consumption.

A new collection of solar lights has also been developed: ViaLuce, designed for lighting bicycle-pedestrian paths. This range forms the main part of their future development project and, therefore, Project 21 targets municipalities, parks, hospitals and also hotels. They are also in the running for the project concerning the lighting for the paths of Namur citadel.

Serge Van Rutten, the head of Project 21 spoke to CCI-Mag: "The Middle East, already a major consumer of solar lighting, has become our second market. Our product is very popular. These countries want solar lighting for their roads and motorways. We are in the process of adapting our concept for this market."

The Middle East, where they had the opportunity to present this range at the BIG 5 SHOW in Dubai, is extremely interested in the concept. But, the company has also established contacts in Denmark, where it will mainly light soft mobility circuits.

The first objective of Project 21c is, firstly, to finalise the initial works near Tournai so that it can become a reference and, thus, provide a platform for inviting town planning managers from the country's major cities so that they can discover how it works. "We want to enter the Belgian market, then the European market and develop the product in order to sell it in the Gulf states", explains Serge Van Rutten.