Thomas Geernaert
Thomas Geernaert joined VARIO as policy advisor in May 2022.
He obtained a doctorate in Engineering in 2011 (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) in the domain of photonics, which was awarded with the ‘Photonics21 Student Innovation award’. After his PhD he was involved in numerous fundamental, applied and industrial research projects in Flanders and Europe. Thomas was professor at VUB (2016-2022) and leader of the research team for optical fiber sensors with applications in industry 4.0, biomedicine and structural health monitoring of structures and materials.
With his switch to VARIO he wants to contribute to successful innovation and entrepreneurship policy.
Advices and reports
View all advices
Advisory report 45: Breakthrough science and technology in Flanders
VARIO calls for a research culture that tolerates risk.
Advisory report 37: Towards higher productivity growth
Advisory report 36: ‘The future of Flemish cluster policy – Green Paper’
VARIO states that spearhead clusters are a driver for economic valorization and for addressing societal challenges through R&D&I, and calls for them to be used more explicitly within transformative innovation policy.