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EuroTech Universities Summer Reception 2023

Join us, reconnect with your network, make new contacts and share the latest insights from Brussels and beyond! On the agenda of this year’s EuroTech Summer Reception: An insightful high-level debate on innovation and entrepreneurship, a cutting-edge exhibition on innovative advanced materials, a festive ceremony with the winners of the EuroTech Future Award 2023, and ample opportunity to network.

Date and time: 
Thursday, 22 June 2023, 16:30-19:30 CET

Location:
BIP Meeting Center, Rue Royale 2-4, 1000 Brussels

Agenda

16:30 | Registration


17:00 | Research | Educate | Innovate: How can we valorise our assets in Europe?

Discussion moderated by Katrina Sichel with:

  • Anders O. Bjarklev, Incoming President of EuroTech Universities Alliance, President of Technical University of Denmark
  • Nicolas Cudre-Mauroux, Chief Research & Innovation Officer, Solvay
  • Cristina Riesen, European Innovation Council Board Member, Founder and CEO of Educreators Foundation


17:30 | EuroTech Future Award – award ceremony
Find out who made it to the top and won the premiere edition of the EuroTech Future Award!


17:45 | Reception

The EuroTech Summer Reception will be accompanied by the interactive exhibition “Innovative Advanced Materials: Building Blocks for a Sustainable Future” with fascinating demonstrators from the labs of the six EuroTech Universities. Try it out, produce your own objects, and enjoy the show!


19:30 | End

Speakers

Click on the speakers to learn more about their backgrounds.

Anders O. Bjarklev

Anders O. Bjarklev was born on 2 July 1961 in Roskilde, Denmark. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering and a PhD from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Anders O. Bjarklev is also Doctor Technices (Dr.Techn.) from DTU.

Anders O. Bjarklev has been President of DTU since 2011. Anders Bjarklev has been at DTU since 1985 and has held a variety of positions. He was appointed Professor in Optical Waveguides in 1999. He was Head of Department of Photonics Engineering from 2004-2010 and DTU Provost from 2010-2011.

In his research, Anders O. Bjarklev focused on dielectric optical waveguides, rare-earth-doped waveguide components, fibre amplifiers and laser sources, optical communication systems, planar waveguide structures, electromagnetic field theory, and photonic crystal waveguides. He is author and co-author of 2 books, more than 155 articles in scientific journals, and more than 200 articles in international conference proceedings. He has supervised more than 35 PhD projects and more than 60 MSc thesis projects as well as served as a referee on several international journals. In 1999, Anders O. Bjarklev became a co-founder of the company Crystal Fibre Ltd.

Anders O. Bjarklev has received several prizes and is the president of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. He holds several positions of trust, among others he is Chair and Spokesman for the Danish Rectors’ Conference, board member of the University of the Faroe Islands, the Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship, and the Danish Technological Institute.

In 2013, Anders O. Bjarklev was awarded the Order of Dannebrog.

Anders O. Bjarklev
Technical University of Denmark

Nicolas Cudré-Mauroux

Nicolas Cudre-Mauroux is the CTO of Solvay, in charge of R&D at this science and innovation company investing more than 300M€/yr in R&D.

Nicolas spent the first part of his career with DuPont, starting in 1988 as a researcher at the Experimental Station, DuPont's central research facility in Wilmington, Delaware (USA). Until 2006, he held a range of R&D, marketing, new business development leadership roles in the United States, Canada and Europe.

In 2006, Nicolas was named Regional Business Director for the Advanced Fibers Systems and Nonwovens businesses in EMEA. In 2011, he joined the DuPont-Danisco integration team and, in 2012, moved to Denmark to become the Technology & Innovation Director for the food ingredient business that DuPont formed following this acquisition.

In 2015, Nicolas joined Solvay where he focuses on maximizing the impact of Research & Innovation investments. In addition to his CTO role at Group level, he recently also took over the R&I leadership of the Specialty Polymers GBU, Solvay's main growth engine. He is based at the corporate headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

He is also a member of the Board of Directors of CNRS, the largest French research organization, and of the Board of Governors of the Argonne National Lab in Chicago. He was also elected to the Royal Academy of Belgium.

Nicolas is Swiss and was born in Luxembourg. He has a MS and a PhD in Materials Science from the Swiss Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nicolas Cudré-Mauroux
Solvay

Cristina Riesen

Cristina is animated by a strong vision to contribute to human development and empowerment through innovation, constantly creating dotted lines between research, imagination and action.

Cristina founded the future-oriented non-profit organization Educreators Foundation in 2017. In 2021 she joined as Board Member the European Innovation Council, a flagship innovation programme under Horizon Europe.

In previous roles, Cristina was General Manager EMEA at Evernote, managed the launch of the Swiss Edtech Collider at EPFL Lausanne, worked with the Strategic Development team at ETH Zurich on foresight projects, was a Public Relations Manager in the field of design and architecture and a Radio Moderator.

Cristina holds a lic.phil. university degree with teacher certification and an Executive Master of Science in Communications Management diploma. She is a certified IFTF foresight and futures design practitioner, Hasso Plattner Institute design thinking professional, and a Reputation Institute alumna. In addition, she holds an IMD Certificate in Mastering Board Governance.

Cristina was named Digital Shaper by the leading Swiss economic magazine Bilanz in 2019 and 2020.

Cristina Riesen
European Innovation Council

EuroTech Future Award

Contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a core element of our vision as an alliance, and we are proud of the achievements of our researchers that help Europe and the world advance on their way to a more sustainable future. The EuroTech Future Award recognises excellent scientific contributions to the UN SDGs by EuroTech researchers that are at the beginning of their career.

But which researchers can convince our Jury? 

Innovative Advanced Materials: Building Blocks for a Sustainable Future

An interactive exhibition with cutting-edge research from the labs of the EuroTech Universities. More information to follow soon.

Practical information

Date and time: Thursday, 22 June 2023, 16:30-19:30 CET
Location: BIP Meeting Center, Rue Royale 2-4, 1000 Brussels
Registration: Please fill in this form.

Audience

This event is open to all.

Further information

For further information, please contact Anita Schneider (contact details below).

Contact

Anita Schneider

Organiser
Communications Manager, EuroTech Brussels Office