Abstract Drawing on a documentary analysis of two socio-economic policy programs, one Flemish (“Vlaanderen In Actie”; VIA), the other Walloon (“Marshall Plans”; MPs), and a discourse analysis of how these programs are received in one Flemish and one Francophone quality newspaper, this paper illustrates how Flanders and Wallonia both seek to become top-performing knowledge-based economies (KBEs). The paper discerns a number of discursive repertoires, such as “Catching up,” which Flemish and Walloon policy actors draw on to legitimize or question the transformation of Flanders and Wallonia into KBEs. The “Catching up” repertoire places Flanders resolutely ahead of Wallonia in the global race towards knowledge, excellence, and science-driven innovation, but suggests that Wallonia may, in due course overtake Flanders as a top-competitive region. Given the expectations and/or fears that “Catching up” evokes among Flemish and Walloon policy actors, the repertoire serves these actors as a flexible discursive resource to make sense of, and shape, their collective futures, and thus their identities. By rendering explicit how Flanders and Wallonia each acquire a distinct identity through the global KBE, the paper underlines the simultaneity of, and the interplay between, globalizing forces and particularizing tendencies and illuminates the political, nation-building and identity-building functions of science, technology, and innovation. The paper starts from the following preliminary observations. While both the VIA plan and the MPs emphasize the need of transforming Flanders and Wallonia into KBEs in order meet the demands of globalization (OECD 1996), the plans adopt a different tone and stance. The Flemish plan repeatedly states the need of transforming Flanders into “a top region, not only in Europe, but in the world, particularly in the social and economic field” (VIA, 2006: 4). It also states that Flanders is already prosperous and already has many strengths, but that the welfare and prosperity of Flanders are ...