Council members
Lieven Danneels, CEO Televic Group, is the chairman of VARIO. The other members are Ann Caluwaerts, Veroniek Collewaert, Dieter Deforce, Katrin Geyskens, Stijn Kelchtermans, Silvia Lenaerts, Jan Vander Stichele, Koen Vanhalst and Vanessa Vankerckhoven. Ann Caluwaerts is also deputy chairman.
VARIO members are appointed by the reponsible minister. The composition of the council can be changed every new legislature.
Lieven Danneels
Chair
Lieven Danneels is since 1998 together with a business associate, owner and Chief Executive Officer of Televic Group. In 2020 an investment…
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Ann Caluwaerts
Deputy chair
Ann has a Master’s Degree of the KUL in Electronic Engineering and in addition attended courses at INSEAD, London Business School, Columbia…
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Veroniek Collewaert
Veroniek Collewaert is a Full Professor of Entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School and KU Leuven. She founded the Vlerick Scaleup…
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Dieter Deforce
Dieter Deforce obtained his Master Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Ghent in 1994 and obtained his PhD at the same…
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Katrin Geyskens
Katrin Geyskens is CEO at Capricorn Partners, a Leuven based asset manager, and has more than 20 years of venture capital experience. Being…
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Stijn Kelchtermans
Stijn Kelchtermans is a professor at KU Leuven and a guest professor at Hasselt University. His expertise lies in the domain of business…
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Silvia Lenaerts
Silvia Lenaerts is a professor of environmental chemistry, manager and innovator. She studied chemistry at KU Leuven and was the first…
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Koen Vanhalst
Koen Vanhalst is European and Belgian Patent Attorney and Partner at De Clercq & Partners CVBA, specialised in intellectual property in…
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Vanessa Vankerckhoven
Vanessa Vankerckhoven is CEO and co-founder of Idevax, medical device company active in drug delivery devices. Previously, she co-founded…
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Former council members
Jan Vander Stichele (2025)
Wim Haegeman (2017-2025)
Johan Martens (2017-2025)
Leen Van den Neste (2020-2022)
Dirk Van Dyck (2017-2025)
Marc Van Sande (2017-2024)
Reinhilde Veugelers (2017-2024)
Hilde Windels (2017-2019)