AI expands role in Dutch road agency and Belgian energy sector

Marlies Emmen, manager of road traffic and safety at the Dutch agency Rijkswaterstaat, explained how artificial intelligence is being introduced step‑by‑step to improve traffic management, road‑inspection deployment, ice‑control planning and future maintenance scheduling. She highlighted AI’s use as a knowledge‑base tool that can retrieve answers from hundreds of guidelines within seconds, while stressing that human expertise remains essential for safety and reliability.

In Belgium, the EnergyVille Deep‑Dive event in Leuven showcased advanced AI applications for energy systems, including agent‑based control of power flows, privacy‑by‑design flexibility management, and AI‑driven market and weather forecasting. Participants saw live demonstrations of the SmarThor cloud data platform, which aggregates energy data for research and modelling.

Both initiatives illustrate a growing trend of integrating AI as a supportive tool across public infrastructure sectors in the Netherlands and Belgium.