Ghent Metropolitan Area
Supporting founders across the imec.istart portfolio with whatever they needed, so they could focus on building and growing their companies. In parallel, I led our Program Delivery Cluster, bringing together colleagues across Academy coordination, tooling, and operations to build the backbone needed to run our accelerator at scale - driving the redesign of our offering for an international context and streamlining processes as we expanded into new European markets. I also led the integration of acquired activities from BlueHealth Innovation Center into our offering and drove the setup the imec.istart hub in the Limburg region through multi-year partnerships. Alongside this, I built the HealthTech community in Ghent (and beyond) through our Ghent HealthTech Tuesday events, growing it to over 830 HealthTech enthusiasts - including founders, investors, researchers, industry players, government organizations, and service providers.
Imec is the world-leading research and innovation hub in nano-electronics and digital technologies. imec.istart – imec’s business accelerator – helps tech startups grow by offering initial funding (100,000 up to 300,000 EUR) alongside a broad range of services such as in-depth expertise and coaching, access to technology, housing, talent, working facilities, as well as access to a broad international network of partners, investors, experts and more. Since launching in 2011, imec.istart has helped more than 360 tech startups across diverse fields develop into sustainable ventures, and was ranked 1st globally in UBI Global's 'Top University Business Accelerators in 2024. My role focused on creating deal flow and scouting the right tech startups for our investment and accelerator program. I worked across the Belgian entrepreneurship ecosystem and built relationships with relevant initiatives to drive a steady inflow of qualified startups, working closely with our MarCom team to streamline the lead process and with our Venture Acceleration Managers to nurture the most promising leads. I also ran global scouting and matchmaking projects for our corporate partners, and executed custom startup matchmaking and acceleration programs on their behalf.
BlueHealth Innovation Center facilitates innovation and entrepreneurship at the crossroads of technology and healthcare - supporting young start-ups and scale-ups, driving a mindset shift across the healthcare industry, and stimulating student entrepreneurship to advance the digital transformation of our healthcare sector. As Regional Manager for the greater Ghent region, I built out the local healthcare stakeholder network, working closely with universities, local governments and industry partners, while coaching and connecting HealthTech entrepreneurs within the Flemish ecosystem. I co-organized an 8-month pre-accelerator program for early-stage HealthTech entrepreneurs, and ran the H-impact program with Ghent University in 2019 and 2020, teaching entrepreneurial skills to international students, researchers, and professionals. Besides that, I was responsible for organizing tons of workshops, events, hackathons (e.g. https://www.hack4health.be/), and innovation bootcamps. As a private-public partnership, BlueHealth Innovation Center brings together a range of stakeholders, each playing a key role in the digital transformation of our healthcare system. (https://www.bhic.care/) BlueHealth Innovation Center got acquired by imec.istart in 2023.
MedTeG facilitates and supports the development of new, innovative medical technologies through its robust ecosystem in Ghent, with a strong network accross the country and beyond. MedTeG is a collaboration between BlueHealth Innovation Center, imec.istart, MedTech Flanders, Ghent University, Ghent University Hospital, the City of Ghent and Orsi Academy, founded on the common vision to grow the greater Ghent region into a thriving MedTech hub to support every MedTech entrepreneur. (https://www.medteg.be/)
Built the student entrepreneurship community at Durf Ondernemen (Dare To Venture), a Ghent University initiative supporting student entrepreneurs in developing the skills to launch, accelerate, and grow their businesses. My role focused on educating, coaching, and connecting student entrepreneurs with internal and external partners - through workshops, events, and strategic programming - while building toward a long-term vision of becoming Belgium's go-to platform for student entrepreneurship. I led two flagship programs: the international 'DO! Goes USA 2018' competition and our 2-month Student Acceleration Track. 'DO! Goes USA' has since evolved into 'Expedition DO!', a 7-month pre-acceleration program now running annually for entrepreneurial students and researchers. Durf Ondernemen plays a key role in Belgium's broader entrepreneurship ecosystem, working alongside other stakeholders to foster innovation and support founders. Durf Ondernemen merged with all other Ghent-based student entrepreneurship initiatives and became Gentrepreneur. (https://www.gentrepreneur.be/)