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Since the Middle Ages Wallonia has been a land of iron and coal and of intensive industry.

Wallonia has developed its industries thanks to its abundant forests and resources of coal, the proximity of major waterways and the presence of agricultural regions with a strong labour force. These factors made our region the industrial lungs of the fledgling state of Belgium in the 19th century and the cradle of the continental Industrial Revolution.

Wallonia is a rich and flourishing region. With their financial assets and their revenue from coal, the middle class founded numerous factories where many workers would produce objects made of metal, wool and glass.
In the 19th century, heavy industry developed thanks to the inventiveness of a few men who would leave their mark on history: Cockerill (the steel industry), Solvay (chemicals), Gramme, Jadot, Empain and Nagelmackers. Their know-how subsequently spread to the four corners of the globe.

These developments resulted in spectacular economic growth that made Belgium the first industrial nation on the continent and one of the richest in Europe. Unfortunately, the European industrial crisis hit our country in the 1880s. Workers' wages fell and unemployment increased... In 1886, the working class rose up in a series of strikes that led to bloodshed. As a result of this movement, lessons were learned and regulations were introduced to control working conditions and to ensure the safety of the workers.

The two world wars curbed the continuous expansion that Wallonia had enjoyed up till that time. Then everything changed dramatically in 1958. The factories of Wallonia were by then antiquated, the coal was running out and the cost of extracting coal was constantly rising. It was the end of an era, and Wallonia had to redefine itself as a dynamic industrial heartland. The key to the region's future was state-of-the-art technology.