The Flemish government in collaboration with Sport Flanders supported and funded  the Research Platform Sport 1 (OPS1) with the aim of supporting policy with policy-relevant  scientific research in the field of sport. This mission continues with the  new Research Platform Sport 2 (OPS2) with again the main objective of  research assignments to support policy-relevant challenges in the Flemish sports sector,  but with new themes that are closely linked to the policy areas of Sport Flanders and the  challenges of civil society organizations in the sport sector; being: (i) sport infrastructure, (ii)  sports participation, and (iii) professionalization of sports organizations. The OPS2 approach rests on two pillars, policy relevance on the one hand and  scientific underpinning. The Flemish government, in particular Sport Flanders, has a  long tradition of policy implementation based on and flanked by scientific research.  Policy-relevant research supports new insights and the development, implementation, monitoring  and evaluation of policy, and helps provide answers to policy questions and current  policy challenges. The first goal of scientific research within OPS2 is therefore to feed the  sports policy in Flanders with insights and answers to the policy questions for the  research lines sport infrastructure, sport participation and professionalization in the sport sector that were  included in the OPS2  contract. The second pillar, scientific research  requires that research be conducted according to scientific standards, such as  scientific methods and based on the state-of-the art knowledge present in the domain,  but also according to the deontological guidelines for scientific research.