The steel industry, which had been the pride of Liege for many years, experienced an unprecedented crisis. It was now impossible to envisage a healthy future without a far-reaching redevelopment of the industry.
Meusinvest (the former name of Noshaq) was created with the objective of initiating this transformation.

The Regional Innovation Support Fund (FAIR) was created. It became Start-up Invest in 2005 (today called Noshaq Venture).

Creation of SpinVenture (now called Noshaq Spin-Offs).
This was the beginning of an exciting joint adventure with the Université de Liège, that of major collaborations to structure the Liege economy. Over a hundred spin-offs have been created in 20 years with astounding success stories: Physiol, Mithra, EVS, Eurogentec etc., to name but a few.

Creation of the non-profit organisation Cide-Socran (now Eklo). The “support” branch of the group was launched.

Meusinvest had now grown considerably, as shown by the 185 businesses in its portfolio and 180m euros of means of action. Almost 8m euros were being invested annually.

Cide-Socran celebrated 4 years of activity and its strong growth by setting three new strategic objectives to underpin both its counselling position and that of referent for innovative projects.

For Meusinvest, this was the time to reconsider its identity and to establish a new strategic plan that had been considered internally over a long period before being finally adopted on 28 October 2011. This plan outlines a long series of actions that were to take place between 2011 and 2015 (transformation of the structure, entry of new private shareholders, development of new procedures, consolidation of partnerships, creation of innovative start-ups etc.).

The rapid and significant changes in the economic environment in Liege once again pushed Meusinvest to reconsider its positioning.

Five sectors become major issues: biotech, industry 4.0, the digital sector, real estate and quality agri-food.
Because Meusinvest had to be a tool that adapted constantly to its environment, the 2016-2020 strategic plan was adopted.

Meusinvest observed that the image it conveyed no longer corresponded to the reality of its practices.
The teams mobilised and together created a new brand image.

Noshaq came into being.
Two new priority sectors were defined by the Board of Directors:

• Energy and sustainable development.
• Cultural industry.

Despite a difficult global context, Noshaq maintains an exemplary level of investment.

Noshaq is giving itself the means to pursue and amplify its mission by recording an historic fundraising of €133M and consolidating it by adopting a new strategic plan for the period 2021-2026.