Speakers

Tineke Van hooland is Deputy Secretary-General of bio.be/essenscia, the Belgian federation boosting innovation and industrialisation of the biotech and life sciences industry in Belgium. Prior to joining bio.be/essenscia, Tineke has held several leadership positions in biopharmaceutical companies after she graduated with High Distinction as Industrial Pharmacist from Ghent University. As Tineke challenges the status quo, she is often consulted as board member and keynote speaker. Tineke is a female leadership advocate and has authored a number of opinion pieces on sustainable health policy and empowering girls and women. Her motto: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm" (Emerson)

Christiaan De Wilde holds a degree in Accountancy from BME Gent, a degree in Taxation from EHSAL Brussels, and a Master's degree in Industrial Entrepreneurship from EHSAL Brussels. Christiaan joined Johnson & Johnson in October 1988, and he has partnered over his 17-year career. From June 2000 till May 2005, Christiaan De Wilde was Finance & Logistics Director Benelux and member of the Board of Johnson & Johnson Medical BV. Until August 2006, he was Finance & Logistics Director and member of the Board of Janssen-Cilag Belgium NV.

Christiaan was appointed Chief Financial & Administration Officer of Fujirebio Europe (formerly known as Innogenetics) on September 1, 2006 and became Chief Executive Officer of the Company on October 15, 2007. From April 1, 2013 till April 2017, Christiaan was EVP Global Operations of the Fujirebio global organization. He became Board member of Fujirebio Holding in April 2017 and in June 2022 of Fujirebio Europe. On July 1, 2022, he was appointed Global Lead Neuro Business of the Fujirebio global organisation.

Alan Thomas brings over 20 years experience in healthcare consulting and services, 9 of which as head of the IQVIA Japan, Japan thought leadership team. He works with multiple stakeholders within healthcare, delivering data-driven intelligence and decision support including clinical and commercial insights, dynamics within the Japan and global markets, and impact of policy and trends on the future outlook of healthcare. He holds a bachelors degree in Economics and Marketing from the Swinburne Institute in Australia.

Sébastien Coppe is the Vice President of Life Sciences activities at N-SIDE. He has a Master of Engineering in Applied Mathematics. He obtained his PhD by creating a pre-diagnostic tool for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, leveraging AI to model patients’ brain behaviour.

Sébastien has been leading the N-SIDE Life Sciences activities for 10 years, providing optimization services to more than 80 pharmaceutical and biotech R&D organization. He has been supporting them in their change management journey towards digitalization. He is passionate about increasing Pharma R&D efficiency through artificial intelligence, reducing waste and clinical development timelines, end-to-end clinical supply chain optimization and proactive risk assessment for patients.

Christiaan De Wilde holds a degree in Accountancy from BME Gent, a degree in Taxation from EHSAL Brussels, and a Master's degree in Industrial Entrepreneurship from EHSAL Brussels. Christiaan joined Johnson & Johnson in October 1988, and he has partnered over his 17-year career. From June 2000 till May 2005, Christiaan De Wilde was Finance & Logistics Director Benelux and member of the Board of Johnson & Johnson Medical BV. Until August 2006, he was Finance & Logistics Director and member of the Board of Janssen-Cilag Belgium NV.

Christiaan was appointed Chief Financial & Administration Officer of Fujirebio Europe (formerly known as Innogenetics) on September 1, 2006 and became Chief Executive Officer of the Company on October 15, 2007. From April 1, 2013 till April 2017, Christiaan was EVP Global Operations of the Fujirebio global organization. He became Board member of Fujirebio Holding in April 2017 and in June 2022 of Fujirebio Europe. On July 1, 2022, he was appointed Global Lead Neuro Business of the Fujirebio global organisation.

Sofie Pattyn has over 25 years of experience in the field of immunogenicity assessment (vaccines and biotherapeutics) and in vitro assay development with a focus on functional assays for immunogenicity, immune oncology and Cell and Gene Therapy products. She has extensive hands-on lab experience and has managed and coached several In Vitro teams over the last decade. From 2008 till 2013 she was Head of the In Vitro Immunogenicity group at AlgoNomics (Ghent, Belgium) and Lonza Applied Protein Services (Cambridge, UK). Prior to that, she worked at Innogenetics, Belgium for over 15 years.

Yoshiaki Tsukamoto is the Executive Director of Japan Bioindustry Association (JBA). After joining Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1979, he has been working for many years in the Bio-Industry field. After MITI became METI (Ministry of Economic, Trade and Industry), he was appointed as directors for Bio-Industry Division (2001), Regional Technology Division (2002), Business Environment Promotion Division and Industrial Cluster project office (2004). After his carrier as Director-General for the METI’s Shikoku Bureau (2005), he joined the JBA in 2007. He is a graduate of Nagoya University and has been a Professor at the Frontier Collaborative Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Luc Van den hove is President and CEO of imec since July 1, 2009. Before he was executive vice president and chief operating officer. He joined imec in 1984, starting his research career in the field of silicide and interconnect technologies. In 1988, he became manager of imec’s micro-patterning group (lithography, dry etching); in 1996, department director of unit process step R&D; and in 1998, vice president of the silicon process and device technology division. In January 2007, he was appointed as imec's EVP & COO. Luc Van den hove received his PhD in electrical engineering from the KU Leuven, Belgium. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications and conference contributions.

Tineke Van hooland is Deputy Secretary-General of bio.be/essenscia, the Belgian federation boosting innovation and industrialisation of the biotech and life sciences industry in Belgium. Prior to joining bio.be/essenscia, Tineke has held several leadership positions in biopharmaceutical companies after she graduated with High Distinction as Industrial Pharmacist from Ghent University. As Tineke challenges the status quo, she is often consulted as board member and keynote speaker. Tineke is a female leadership advocate and has authored a number of opinion pieces on sustainable health policy and empowering girls and women. Her motto: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm" (Emerson)

Stefaan Fiers joined Takeda Belgium in June 2020, as Head of Corporate Communication, Public Affairs and Patient Advocacy. In his role, Stefaan Fiers monitors and analyses the socio-political evolutions in the country, acts as Takeda’s liaison to Belgian government officials and stakeholders in the healthcare system, and coordinates Takeda’s public affairs activities in 24 mid-sized countries in Europe.

Stefaan Fiers is also part-time Associate Professor teaching Public Affairs and Comparative Politics courses at KU Leuven University, and chairman of BEPACT, Belgian Public Affairs Community. Previously, he held positions in academia, in governmental affairs at MSD Belgium and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and in the Belgian pharma trade association (pharma.be).

Lieven Janssens is the President and CEO of Kaneka Eurogentec S.A. He joined Eurogentec in 2010 and served first as Chief Business Officer and consequently until 2018 as Executive Vice President.

Lieven Janssens also holds the position of CEO at Anaspec, a peptide producing US company (Fremont California), part of the Eurogentec group. and is a board member of Essenscia Wallonia. Before becoming Eurogentec’s President, Lieven Janssens served at several roles for Kaneka Pharma Europe N.V. from General Manager to Vice-President, leading the business development of pharmaceutical intermediates for the pharma Industry.

Lieven Janssens is a graduate of the Ghent University with a Bioengineer degree and Ph.D. He also earned a Business Administration degree from EHSAL Brussels.

Luc Van den hove is President and CEO of imec since July 1, 2009. Before he was executive vice president and chief operating officer. He joined imec in 1984, starting his research career in the field of silicide and interconnect technologies. In 1988, he became manager of imec’s micro-patterning group (lithography, dry etching); in 1996, department director of unit process step R&D; and in 1998, vice president of the silicon process and device technology division. In January 2007, he was appointed as imec's EVP & COO. Luc Van den hove received his PhD in electrical engineering from the KU Leuven, Belgium. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications and conference contributions.

Hendrik Waegeman obtained a master degree in Biochemical Engineering at Ghent University (2007) and holds a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences-Chemical Engineering (2011). He is co-founder of the company Inbiose NV, founded in 2013, which develops fermentatively produced specialty carbohydrates such as human milk oligoscaccharides.

Since 2012, he has a position at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent, Belgium. Hendrik is currently Head of Business Operations and responsible for the operational management of BBEPP. He is also involved in the setup of Bio Base Asia Pilot Plant in Rayong, Thailand that will become operational in 2024 and will be the largest scale up facility in Asia.

Hendrik is board director of Inbiose NV, Bio.be (the cluster of Belgian biotech companies) and Biobased Industries Consortium.