Networking and Social Dinner

Connect, celebrate, and dance

A relaxed evening of good food, music, and meaningful connections

After a full day of learning and exchanging ideas, the OpenLivingLab Days Networking and Social Dinner offers participants the opportunity to unwind, reconnect, and enjoy an evening together in a unique setting.

More than a traditional conference dinner, the evening is designed to bring the international Living Lab community together in a fun and informal atmosphere. Participants will have plenty of opportunities to meet new people, continue conversations from the conference, and strengthen connections with colleagues and partners from around the world.

The programme will include dinner, live music, a DJ and dancing, as well as interactive activities to help participants connect and capture memories from the evening.

Guests dining at a previous OpenLivingLab Days Social Dinner — Social Dinner at a previous edition of OpenLivingLab Days. Photo: ENoLL

Social Dinner during OLLD — Social Dinner at OpenLivingLab Days. Photo: ENoLL

Live music at the OpenLivingLab Days Social Dinner. Photo: ENoLL

What to expect

Meet and reconnect

Catch up with familiar faces, meet participants from across the international Living Lab community and continue conversations from the conference in a more relaxed setting.

Enjoy live music and dancing

The evening will feature live music, followed by a DJ and an open dance floor to keep the celebration going until midnight.

Are you a musician? Join the ENoLL Band for OLLD26.

Join us aboard the Kerkschip St Jozef

The Social Dinner will take place aboard one of Antwerp’s most unusual venues: the Kerkschip St Jozef, a historic concrete ship permanently moored in the city’s Houtdok.

Originally built during the Second World War as a supply vessel, the ship was later transformed into a religious and social meeting place for Antwerp’s inland shipping community. Today, it remains a distinctive part of the city’s maritime heritage, with a warm, characterful interior, nautical details, and spacious gathering areas.

The Kerkschip has long served as a place where dockworkers, sailors, inland shippers and other members of the port community come together, making it a particularly fitting setting for an evening dedicated to connection, conversation, and community.

Where: Kerkschip St Jozef, Houtdok-Noordkaai 25, 2030 Antwerp
When: 30 September 2026
Time: 19:30 – 00:00

A ship with a strange past

Eighty years before it hosted a Living Lab dinner, the Kerkschip was a wartime workaround, built from concrete because steel was scarce, and it has never sailed under its own power.

1942

Ordered and laid down. Built from concrete in a Rotterdam drydock, because steel was scarce in wartime.

1944

Completed and towed to Antwerp. Confiscated by the Belgian government that September and put to work as a bunker station, then a coal store, under the name CITANK.

1950

Reconstructed at the Leopolddok as a floating church and service centre for the port community, and renamed Kerkschip St Jozef.

1969

Moved to the Kanaaldok, where it served inland shippers, dockworkers and sailors for over four decades.

2012

Towed to its permanent mooring at Kaai 25 in the Houtdok, in the Eilandje district.

2026

Hosts the OpenLivingLab Days Networking and Social Dinner.

Dates from the Flemish heritage record for the Kerkschip St Jozef.

The Kerkschip St Jozef seen from the quayside — Kerkschip St Jozef, Antwerp. Photo: Maarten Van Dijck, Onroerend Erfgoed, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Wood-panelled gathering room aboard the Kerkschip St Jozef — Interior of the Kerkschip St Jozef. Photo: Onroerend Erfgoed, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Interior hall aboard the Kerkschip St Jozef — Interior of the Kerkschip St Jozef. Photo: Onroerend Erfgoed, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Nautical detail aboard the Kerkschip St Jozef. Photo: Onroerend Erfgoed, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

An evening for the Living Lab community

Networking and informal exchanges are at the heart of OpenLivingLab Days. The Social Dinner creates space to connect beyond formal sessions, celebrate the community and enjoy the friendships and collaborations that make the Living Lab movement so special.

Come ready to connect, celebrate and dance!

Ready to join us?

Participation in the Networking and Social Dinner is reserved for registered OpenLivingLab Days participants. The dinner can be added as an optional activity during the conference registration process via the official registration platform.

Getting there

The Kerkschip is moored in the Houtdok, in Antwerp’s Eilandje district, about 2.5 km north of the conference venue.

Address
Kerkschip St Jozef
Houtdok-Noordkaai 25
2030 Antwerp

Plan your route

Tram and shuttle details will be confirmed closer to the event.