Bart Van Looy is professor at KU Leuven (Innovation and Organization) at the department of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business and Economics and (part-time), promotor of ECOOM and Academic Dean of Flanders Business School (Antwerp). His current research focuses on innovation processes (firm level) and regional innovation systems (Entrepreneurial Universities and Science-Technology interactions).

bart.vanlooy@kuleuven.be 0032 16 326 901 homepage publications

Caro Vereyen works at INCENTiM since 2008 where she gained experience as a research assistant in Science Technology and Innovation related projects. More in particular, she is strongly involved with concordance schemes for IP classification systems (IPCv8 – NACE Rev. 2, NICE – NACE Rev.2, ISIC – NACE Rev.2), and she takes responsibility for the overall functioning regarding regionalisation systems of IP data (EU27 + EFTA members). Besides, she is responsible as coordinator for the projects of the Flemish government and the European Commission assigned to INCENTiM. Caro Vereyen holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing from the Hogeschool UCLL.

caro.vereyen@kuleuven.be 0032 16 325 743 homepage

Edwin Zimmermann holds a master's degree as Commercial Engineer from KU Leuven. Between 1998 and 2002, Edwin worked at INCENTiM on a number of research projects in the field of science, technology and innovation policy as well as more applied projects for KU Leuven spin-off companies.
In 2019, he rejoined INCENTiM, developing a number of strategy case-studies that focus on pivotal moments in the lifespan of a number of Belgian multinational companies, and working on other projects related to strategy and innovation.
Between 2002 and 2018, Edwin worked at the spin-off unit of LRD, KU Leuven's technology transfer office, and as Senior Investment Manager at two venture capital funds and a global impact investment firm. He served on the Board of Directors of 10+ companies across different industries and he actively supported the start-up and growth of 30+ start-up and scale-up companies.

edwin.zimmermann@kuleuven.be 0032 16 376 726 homepage publications

Jan-Bart Vervenne holds master degrees in Economics and History at KU Leuven and UC Louvain. As a researcher affiliated to INCENTiM he contributed to contract research assignments - for a number of European institutions - translating large scale intellectual property data in comprehensible indicators of investment by countries and firms in innovation. Currently, building on that research, he is preparing his PhD in business economics at KU Leuven and works as a data scientist in industry.

jan-bart.vervenne@kuleuven.be 0032 16 325 773 homepage publications

Joris Grouwels holds a master degree from the department of Electrical Engineering at KU Leuven, majoring in data science and automation. Since 2008 he has been working on and off at ECOOM and INCENTiM as a project researcher. He has mainly been involved in text mining on patent data as well as program modeling. Joris has a keen interest in free software and the possibilities that modern computing can bring to other branches of science.

joris.grouwels@kuleuven.be 0032 16 325 773 homepage publications

Dr. Julie Callaert is Research Expert at ECOOM (Flemish Centre for R&D Monitoring; KU Leuven; Belgium). She manages the Technometrics study group of the centre, which provides patent indicators to the Flemish government in support of their technology policy. Her research is primarily oriented towards the development of novel and enhanced patent indicators, with a particular interest in the dynamics of science and technology interplay, including academic entrepreneurship. She has published on these topics in journals like Research Policy, Scientometrics, Journal of Technology Transfer, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Industry and Innovation. With her background, and as a member of the INCENTiM research division from the KU Leuven’s Faculty of Business and Economics, she has also been involved in several European Framework projects.

julie.callaert@kuleuven.be 0032 16 325 773 homepage publications

Prof. Dr. Ir. Koenraad Debackere obtained his Ph.D. in Management with an ICM-fellowship at the University of Gent, after he stays as an ICM-fellow and an ICRMOT research assistant at MIT Sloan School of Management. He was a Fulbright-Hays post-doctoral fellow at MIT in 1991-1992. In 1995, he became professor at KU Leuven where he teaches Technology and Innovation Management. In 1999, he became the managing director of KU Leuven Research & Development, the technology transfer office of KU Leuven. He has also been an invited professor in the area of Innovation Management in various academic MBA programs (Manchester Business School, Insead, Milano Politecnico, Tilburg University, Chalmers University).
He is also actively engaged in technology transfer activities as managing director of KU Leuven Research & Development and Chairman of the Gemma Frisius Fonds (the venture fund) of the KU Leuven. He is the co-founder and chairman of Leuven.Inc, the innovation network of Leuven high-tech entrepreneurs. He is a board member of IWT- Vlaanderen, the Flemish government agency that supports science and technology development in Flemish industry.

koenraad.debackere@kuleuven.be 0032 16 324 113 homepage publications

Prof. Dr. Leo Sleuwaegen holds a Ph.D. in economics at the KU Leuven. His dissertation entitled “Location and Investment Decisions by Multinational Enterprises” was awarded “Best doctoral dissertation” by the Academy of International Business, New York, in 1985.
Currently, he is a full professor managerial economics at KU Leuven, MBA director of the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School and part-time professor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. He has recently been a visiting professor at the New York University, University of California (Irvine), Bocconi University (Milan) and the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne).
He has worked as an expert-consultant for the European Commission, World Bank, OECD, the Belgian government and major international companies. Prof. Dr. Leo Sleuwaegen regularly publishes in international journals and is associate editor of the International Journal of the Economics of Business.

leo.sleuwaegen@kuleuven.be 0032 16 326 913 homepage publications

Marcelina Grabowska Marcelina Grabowska obtained a PhD in Business Economics at the KU Leuven. Her dissertation entitled “Essays on innovation in multinational enterprises: R&D organization, knowledge transfer and global mindset” focuses on innovation and international business strategies of firms, and deals with topics such as organization of R&D of firms and industry-science linkages. Currently, she is a post-doctoral researcher at ECOOM and research associate at INCENTiM. In particular, she is a member of the Technimetrics Group at ECOOM where she contributes to the research projects focusing on development of world’s regions in biotechnology and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.

marcelina.grabowska@kuleuven.be 0032 16 377 402 homepage publications

Mariëtte Du Plessis holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Sciences (specialization Genetics) at the University of Pretoria (South Africa). After graduation, she worked as a lecturer at the department of Genetics of the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa). She moved to Belgium in 2002 and started as a research assistant at ECOOM (Flemish Centre for R&D Monitoring).
She is actively engaged in related projects within the research division INCENTiM. In particular, she is responsible and she produces data for the sector allocation system for the whole of the PATSTAT database.

mariette.du plessis@kuleuven.be 0032 16 325 730 homepage publications

Michela Bergamini obtained her PhD in Business Economics at KU Leuven and is currently a post-doc researcher in the department of Managerial Economics, Strategy and Innovation (MSI). Her research interests center on entrepreneurial processes and the nature of business models in artistic/creative ventures as well as innovation dynamics (modelled and assessed at the regional (NUTS 2) and firm level) and knowledge spillovers from the arts and culture to the knowledge economy (and vice versa). She is currently working on a project focusing on design innovation and the relationship between form (design) and function (technology), as well as value appropriation dynamics by means of design rights at the firm level.

mariette.du plessis@kuleuven.be 0032 3 201 1833 homepage publications

Xiao Yan Song holds a master's degree in Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Management at Catholic University of Leuven. After graduation in 2005, she was employed at ECOOM (Flemish Centre for R&D Monitoring). She works as the data scientist of the Technometric department of ECOOM and she participates in most research projects assigned to INCENTiM.

xiaoyan.song@kuleuven.be 0032 16 325 734 homepage publications