Chemical industry & innovation partnerships: Impact assured!

Speakers for this event

• Mengal, Philippe

  Mengal, Philippe

  Executive Director, Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU)

  Philippe Mengal is the Executive Director of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) since 1 October 2015. His mission is to further consolidate the role and responsibilities of the BBI JU. The Executive Director is the legal representative of the BBI JU. He is the chief executive responsible for the day-to-day management of the BBI JU in accordance with the decisions of the Governing Board. Mr. Mengal trained as an engineer in Chemistry and Bio-industry at the Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech University and later on in Strategic Innovation Management at INSEAD - Fontainebleau in France. He started his career in 1990 in France as R&D engineer in the field of biomass fractionation and purification. In 1995 he became Technical Director of a research centre dedicated to biomass valorisation and between 1990 and 1997 he taught in a Master programme on chemical engineering in Rennes, France. He has published a number of scientific papers and awarded 5 patented license agreements. In his 25 years of professional experience before joining BBI JU, Mr. Mengal held strategic managerial positions in France and Belgium such as CEO of three companies, Global R&D Director of a multinational and Senior Consultant in food ingredient, engineering and life science industries.

  Executive Director, Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU)

• van Eetvelde, Greet

  van Eetvelde, Greet

  Group Head of Energy and Innovation Policy, INEOS Group

  Prof.dr.ir. Greet Van Eetvelde, INEOS Group / Ghent University Professor Van Eetvelde (°1965) holds engineering degrees in bioscience and chemistry, an advanced Master's degree in environmental sciences, and a PhD from Ghent University in Belgium. In 1994, during her doctoral research on wood preservation, she was granted a British Council fellowship at Building Research Establishment in outer London. Appointed professor in 2000, she still heads the Energy & Cluster Management research group at the UGent faculty of Engineering and Architecture, while successively leading the university's Environmental department and (in 2007) assuming the role of director of the UGent Energy platform Power-Link as well as CEO of the Greenbridge science park. Since 2011 dr. Van Eetvelde is employed at INEOS AG in Switzerland as Group head of Energy & Innovation Policy. She steers the pan-INEOS carbon & energy network and directs research & innovation projects tackling grand industrial climate challenges. She represents INEOS in the Cefic Climate Change & Energy as well as Innovation programme councils, is INEOS' delegate in the SPIRE partnership, and is chairwoman of SusChem Switzerland. She co-leads the Energy section of EFCE and coordinates or participates in many industrial and academic platforms and projects. Since 2015 Van Eetvelde is also visiting professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in the Industrial Process and Energy Systems Engineering group.

  Group Head of Energy and Innovation Policy, INEOS Group

• Vandenberghe, Kurt

  Vandenberghe, Kurt

  Director Policy Development and Coordination, EU Commission

  Kurt is Director for Policy Development and Coordination at the European Commission's DG Research and Innovation since 1st February 2016. Before that, he was Director for 'Climate action and resource efficiency' at DG Research and Innovation since July 2013. He served in the Cabinet of Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin (1999-2004) and as Head of the Cabinet of Janez Potocnik, who was Commissioner for Research and Innovation (2004-2009) and subsequently for Environment (from 2010). Kurt joined the European Commission in 1996 as co-ordinator of the Commission’s Intermodal Transport Task Force and of the Transport Research Programme. Before entering the Commission, Kurt worked for 4 years as a manager at Ernst & Young Association Management, where he set up, managed and represented international trade associations. After reading French and Italian literature at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) and obtaining a degree in Public and International Affairs at the University Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL), Kurt gained a Master of Arts degree in International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (S.A.I.S.) in Bologna, Italy and Washington D.C., US. Kurt is co-founder and board member of Journalismfund.eu and the VZW Scriptieprijs.

  Director Policy Development and Coordination, EU Commission

• Wachsen, Olaf

  Wachsen, Olaf

  Head of Group Process Technology at Clariant and SPIRE Board Member

  In 2010 Olaf Wachsen was appointed Head of Group Process Technology at Clariant‘s central research and development function Group Technology & Innovation. He is responsible for bringing innovation to scale and having best and innovative technologies in place in order to ensure high plant performance combined with priorities on sustainability and environment protection. In 1996, he joined Hoechst AG and moved to Clariant in 1999. He held various positions linked to chemical engineering and operations topics covering R&D, innovation management, sales, investment projects and plant management on a global level. In 2015, Olaf Wachsen was appointed Deputy Head of Dechema Expert Group Reaction Engineering, and became an SPIRE Board Member in 2016, after a few years driving innovation related topics in the SPIRE partnership. In this function, his intention is to shape chemical engineering research topics and to develop the education of scientists and engineers. His motivation is to discover innovation needs for the process industry and drive things forward. Olaf Wachsen holds a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Polymerization Reaction Engineering from the Technical University Berlin.

  Head of Group Process Technology at Clariant and SPIRE Board Member

• Wierinck, Lieve

  Wierinck, Lieve

  Member of the European Parliament

  Lieve Wierinck is a Belgian Member of the European Parliament since May 2016 for the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, which sits in the ALDE Group. She succeeded Philippe De Backer, who became Secretary of State in the Michel Government.

  Member of the European Parliament