Antwerp is the knowledge region par excellence, a fact highlighted once again during the first Antwerp Innovation Night organised by Antwerp.SRL, the network platform of UAntwerp and Voka Antwerp-Waasland on Monday 16 December 2019. The first AHA!-awards were presented to Internet of Things expert Steven Latré and vaccination specialist Pierre Van Damme in the new provincial government building. Baron Paul Stoffels (Vice Chair of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson) gave the keynote speech to sold-out auditorium of 350 attendees. Two awards were presented: the 'Promising' award for an up-and-coming researcher, and the 'Achieved' award for a well-established researcher.
'Promising'-award
Prof. Steven Latré (UAntwerp). "Newly emerging domains require pioneers who can think and act in multidisciplinary, international settings," was the jury’s justification of its decision. "Domains such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things need bridge builders. With his innovation hub, The Beacon, the prize winner has had a major influence on people, on the city and on society. He is the innovation pioneer of the future."
"I am tremendously honoured to receive this award," Latré said. "When I started here six years ago, I noticed that Antwerp has what it takes to play a pioneering role in the field of AI and IoT, in co-creation with companies. With the port and industry as economic drivers and the city centre as a platform for smart cities, Antwerp is a genuine ecosystem. I am extremely pleased that we've been able to make great strides forward with initiatives such as The Beacon. This sign of recognition is the icing on the cake for me."
'Achieved'-award
Prof. Pierre Van Damme (UAntwerp) received the award in the 'Achieved' category. "Van Damme has built up an exceptional track record and is an authority in the field of infectious diseases," said the jury. His research into polio provides solutions to a global problem that often affects the most vulnerable people in society. The social impact of his work has not escaped the notice of philanthropic organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."
"This award is a wonderful acknowledgement of the work carried out by myself and my team, studying new polio vaccines and testing them on volunteers in the container village of Poliopolis," said Van Damme in his acceptance speech. "Antwerp is the perfect region to carry out such innovative research. With the port, industry, the Tropical Institute, a broad network of hospitals and the university, everything is in place to turn Antwerp into a ‘vaccine research valley’. We have earned our stripes nationally and internationally with polio vaccine research. This should form the basis for even more innovative research into vaccines and infectious diseases."
Nominees category 'Achieved'
Walter Daelemans - Faculty of Arts
Walter Daelemans is one of the driving forces behind three successful spin-offs in the humanities. The unique combination of expertise in his research group CliPS and their methodology to turn text into knowledge formed the basis. With this in mind, Walter can be named a valorization pioneer in the humanities.
Jurgen Del Favero - Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences
Multiplicom is considered one of the most successful biotech spin-off companies in Flanders, and as scientific founder Jurgen Del Favero has made an enormous impact in the field of molecular diagnostics.
Sven De Maeyer - Marije Lesterhuis - Roos Van Gasse - Maarten Goossens - Faculty of Social Sciences
Comproved, formerly known as D-PAC, is one of the most recent spin-offs of the University of Antwerp, imec and Ghent University and commercializes their comparison-tool which is an innovative tool for assessing a wide range of competences, based on the method of comparative judgment.
Sebastiaan Engelborghs - Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences
As a specialist in neurodegenerative brain disorders, Sebastiaan Engelborghs has significantly contributed to the integration of biomarkers into diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Herman Goossens - Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Herman Goossens has been fighting for years against irresponsible use of antibiotics, and there is hope, as the mentality of people is gradually changing.
Peter Hellinckx - Faculty of Applied Engineering
Peter Hellinckx has the ability to build bridges connecting his own expertise with that of other academics in other disciplines for the benefit of industry.
Herwig Mannaert en Jan Verelst - Faculty of Business and Economics
Herwig Mannaert and Jan Verelst have established one of the most successful spin-offs of the University of Antwerp: NSX, a company focused on the implementation of so-called Normalized Systems. Normalized Systems are extremely modular software architectures, using code generation to make software free from ripple effects, resulting in more agile, evolvable, vendor-neutral and technology-independent systems. This agility results both in lower maintenance costs for software and innovation opportunities. The mission of NSX is to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach at industrial-scale practice.
MIOS research group - Faculty of Social Sciences
MIOS conducts research and develops evidence-based tools and strategies concerning the use of digital media by individuals and organizations. MIOS investigates online risks associated with cyberbullying, sexting, online privacy, ..., and the way these can be addressed. Special attention is paid to vulnerable groups, such as children and adolescents.
Patrick Meire - Faculty of Science
Most people around the globe live in estuaries and human activity has severe adverse effects on many of them. Balancing human activity and healthy aquatic ecosystems is key to Patrick Meire’s career.
Jan Sijbers + Visionlab team - Faculty of Science
Visionlab succeeds in using cutting edge research to resolve real-world problems industrial partners face today. Specifically, the team looks on how problems blocking the potential of certain imaging technologies can be resolved by developing advanced image processing algorithms.
Vanessa Vankerckhoven and Alex Vorsters - Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
The VAXINFECTIO team has been at the forefront of translational and clinical research in vaccinology and infectious diseases, leading to the foundation of the UAntwerp spin-off Novosanis active in the field of diagnostic tests for infectious disease and oncology.
Pierre Van Damme - Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Pierre Van Damme is a world expert in vaccinology and an Antwerp game changer in that field through his scientific, educational and innovative activities.
Maarten Weyn - Faculty of Applied Engineering
Maarten Weyn has emerged as a real innovation pioneer covering both economic criteria and being very engaged in society.
Nominees category 'Promising'
Bart Goethals and Koen Verstrepen, Faculty of Science
Bart Goethals and Koen Verstrepen are the founders of Froomle, a leading provider of AI-driven large scale recommender systems.
Peter Hellinckx, Faculty of Applied Engineering and Thierry Vanelslander, Faculty of Business and Economics
Peter Hellinckx and Thierry Vanelslander are the senior academic staff members behind DigiTrans a spin-off to be founded in 2019.
DigiTrans offers a standardized platform that combines data from a wide array of sources (tracking systems for trucks, order administration systems, real-time traffic data etc.), enabling companies in logistics to have more insight in their fleet’s operation and to optimize routing, asset tracking and other processes.
Steven Latré - Faculty of Science
Steven Latré is piloting artificial intelligence through the wireless jungle by discovering reliable paths in the most challenging situations.
Kris Laukens - Faculty of Science
Data sciences have become an integral part of modern healthcare, and Kris Laukens has emerged as an interdisciplinary bridge builder between the two.
Sarah Lebeer - Faculty of Science
Probiotics are proving their vast potential in therapeutically improving human and animal health. Sarah Lebeer is a pioneer in probiotics research and is recognized as a top ranking specialist.
Maite Mallentjer - Dept. of Health and Social Care (AP)
Maite Mallentjer is one of the driving forces behind ‘a sense of home’, a project that focuses on the question how people living in residential care centres can be giving an experience like 'home'.
David Martens - Faculty of Business and Economics
David Martens is international highly appreciated for his academic work on datamining. In his work he focuses on the development and use of predictive data mining techniques for a better decision-making process. He translated his work into many applications both for the public and private sector.
Vera Meynen - Faculty of Science
Vera Meynen has pioneered a new sustainable and energy-saving separation technology for chemical industry: functionalized membranes for affinity nanofiltration.
Jan Steckel - Faculty of Applied Engineering
Jan Steckel’s world class sonar sensors helps autonomous cars to operate in the most complex and cluttered environments that man-made machines have ever faced.
Serge Tavernier - Faculty of Applied Engineering
Sustainable chemistry and development of new building blocks from waste streams is key to the overall sustainability of society. Serge Tavernier is a pioneer in the field.
Sam Van Der Jeught - Faculty of Science
Sam Van Der Jeught realized an entirely new method for real-time shape measurements, and valorizes this technique in a new device for evidence-based diagnosis in ear surgery.
Stijn Verwulgen - Faculty of Design Science
Stijn Verwulgen is one of the few researchers that seamlessly combines societal and economic impact in his research.
Jochen Vleugels - Faculty of Design Science
Jochen Vleugels is a researcher at the Research Group Product Development. He is extremely skilled in integrating scientific and technical insights in design and engineering to solve problems that can only be tackled by combining knowledge from multiple scientific disciplines.