Barco reopens the doors of its Experience Center in Kortrijk to showcase its capabilities. Despite global ambitions, Barco remains true to its West Flemish roots.
Barco knows how to make a good first impression. The headquarters, opened in 2016 and covering 58,000 m2, is an architectural masterpiece. A welcoming committee of Canadian geese and robotic mowers closely monitors every vehicle passing the visitor driveway. The beating heart of Barco, including part of the production, has always remained in its hometown of Kortrijk since its founding in 1934.
It’s a special day for Barco. In recent months, extensive renovation work has been carried out. The Experience Center has been revamped and is now open to the public again. “Technology keeps changing, so we continue to innovate. All the products on display here are new: some haven’t even been launched yet. And of course, we know how to put on a bit of a show,” says CEO An Steegen.
The premiere is reserved for the press: even Barco’s staff doesn’t yet know what the new Experience Center looks like. Steegen, together with Kortrijk’s mayor Ruth Vandenberghe (Open VLD), cuts the symbolic red ribbon. Vandenberghe: “It means a lot to our city that Barco remains true to its roots. Kortrijk is a city of doers.”
Software as a Composer
Liesbet Soenens and Wim Verstraete are the guides on duty. They are the driving forces behind the renewed Experience Center and are visibly excited to showcase the result of months of hard work. The tour starts in the
Barco is known worldwide for its projectors and screens, but according to Soenens, the company is shifting its focus more towards what you don’t see. “Our technology has always been on stage. Now we see ourselves more as a ‘composer’ behind the scenes. The story lies in the software.”
After this brief warm-up, we are guided to the Healthcare pod, where Barco demonstrates its technology for the medical sector. Monitor enthusiasts will feel like kids in a candy store here. We see, among other things, a screen with 32 million (!) pixels for mammography and a screen that makes objects pop out in 3D without needing special glasses.
Soenens has another surprise in store. With the push of a button, she tilts the wall to reveal an operating room. Soenens brings
Control Room
The tour continues at a brisk pace. The next stop, the Enterprise pod, actually consists of two rooms. First, Verstraete shows us the
The tension rises as Verstraete starts the demo. Barco showcases various scenarios, from a virtual port to a raging fire in Kortrijk. Again, what’s behind the scenes is at least as important as what’s visible on the screen.
The underlying software ensures that the many screens in a control room are synchronized. Barco evolves from an audiovisual to an IT specialist: that’s the message it wants to convey multiple times in the Experience Center.
Loving Meetings
In the next room, the atmosphere is more relaxed. Here we see all the products under the Clickshare banner in their natural habitat: the meeting room. Think of the Clickshare Hub that we saw during our previous visit to Barco. The homely setting is meant to illustrate that ClickShare is suitable for both the office and a home working context.
Soenens has taken over from her colleague again. “Meetings are frustrating when technology doesn’t work. ClickShare should eliminate the stress and provide employees at home with the same experience as colleagues in the boardroom. We are platform-agnostic: it doesn’t matter if you use Teams or something else. The slogan of Clickshare is: Love meeting(s).”
After work comes relaxation. In the final part of the tour, Barco immerses us in its entertainment business. Display technology is at the heart and soul of Barco. From a cozy home theater to large cinema halls: you can find technology
Torture Chamber
For visitors to the Experience Center, the tour ends here, but Barco has an extra surprise for us. We get to take a look at the test lab, also known as the ‘torture chamber.’ Fortunately, it’s only laser projectors that are subjected to various tortures here to test their build quality.
Barco takes product testing very seriously. The engineers in the test lab have impressive equipment at their disposal to unleash on screens and projectors. This can range from simple drop and shock tests to actual torture chambers where the effects of extreme temperatures and altitudes can be simulated. We never expected to see a frozen projector.
The EMC lab is perhaps the strangest room we’ve ever stood in. A projector is set up on a turntable, facing a spear-shaped antenna that seems ready to pierce it. The pointed blocks on the floor and in the room wouldn’t be out of place in the
This special test setup is used to test electromagnetic compatibility. In layman’s terms, it means whether the electromagnetic waves emitted by a device are affected by or have an effect on others. We’d love to see a live demonstration, but according to the lab employees, that would be the equivalent of standing in a giant microwave oven.
Everyone fortunately emerges unscathed from the torture chamber. Now that the Experience Center is inaugurated, Barco opens its doors to customers and business partners. In its home base in Kortrijk, Barco showcases its capabilities and proves that even after ninety years, it doesn’t stand still. IT and audiovisual technology go hand in hand in the company’s new vision. Barco wants to shine not only on the screen but also behind it.