Rene De Keyzer

René De Keyzer graduated in Civil Engineering at the VUB in 1976 and obtained an MBA in Entrepreneurial Business Administration at the Lessius College in Antwerp in 2004. His career began at Agfa where he researched and developed hybrid imaging systems to be used on the graphical market. The Agfa-Gevaert Group develops, produces and distributes an extensive range of analogue and digital imaging systems and IT solutions, mainly for the printing industry and the healthcare sector, as well as for specific industrial applications. Since  1992,Rene De Keyzer has been the Manager R&D  nanomaterials at Agfa Gevaert, leading a team of 70 people.

Early 2000,Rene De Keyzer got involved in R&D lobbying to governments and Europe in the framework of "Open Innovation". In 2001 he founded the “External R&D and Funding” group to speed up Agfa’s strategic innovation projects, focusing on the collaboration between the company and the academic world.Rene De Keyzer was also involved in the foundation of strategic research centre Strategic Initiative Materials (SIM  2006) and of the Flanders Initiative on Sustainable Chemistry (FISCH…2009) leading to the foundations of Catalisti

Since 2014 he is business developer and valorisation manager  for the groups SURF and FYSC  in the GEAR programs  of VUB

Since 2015 reviewer of the FWO SBO industrial committee

Reviewer for the Eureka  and  Horizon programs and local innovation programs since 1998

Current focus:

Growth of the funded projectportofolio of the MACH group and related.Trouble shooting valorisation issues of to be funded projects
Constructing funded projects in the framework of the European Commission, Eureka, Eranet, and the regional innovation schemes VLAIO FWO SBO
Nursing valorisation problems for project proposals VLAIO SBO and other funding schemes
Consulting on parafiscal and fiscal measures for cost reduction of R&D activities in Belgium and Europe in industry
R&D on nanodesigned materials and coating technology with applications in imaging , industrial digital printing and sustainable energy.