PROF. DR. STEVEN VAN PASSEL

At the University of Antwerp, we are committed to being a dynamic, entrepreneurial and forward-thinking institution that actively helps shape the future. We conduct excellent, fundamental research, and are internationally recognised in several key domains. But I believe our responsibility goes beyond academic excellence. It is crucial that the knowledge we generate doesn’t remain within the lab or in academic publications. We need to turn insights into practical applications that address the complex challenges our world faces today.

We live in a world facing complex environmental, health-related, socialand economic challenges. I am convinced that it is our job to identify these pressing needs and create pathways to address them through rigorous science, in close collaboration with businesses, government and civil society. For example, with our open innovation hub for sustainable chemistry BlueApp, we provide researchers, entrepreneurs and companies with critical support through labs, equipment and knowledge so that they can bring ideas to market more quickly. Similarly, infectious diseases have always been a significant point of focus in Antwerp, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. At Vaccinopolis, we research and trial vaccines of the future.

I want to broaden valorisation, improve it, and resolutely choose for valuable, sustainable impact in the long term. That includes fostering entrepreneurship within our university community. We actively support researchers and students in developing an entrepreneurial mindset, and our growing spin-off community reflects this commitment (with spin-offs Amber Therapeutics, Digitrans, iFLUX, Innocens, Orbits Oncology and Sightera Biosciences, featured in this book).

Our university’s ambition to shape the future is clear, but we must do so in a sustainable way. I strive to balance environmental, economic and social goals. Moving too fast risks harming business, moving too slowly harms the planet. I aim to achieve a win-win for all involved, sometimes by making economic compromises and sometimes by making sustainable ones. Through this approach, we seek to create long-term, positive impact within Antwerp’s innovation ecosystem, across Flanders, and far beyond.

Prof. dr. Steven Van Passel is Vice-Rector Valorisation and Sustainability at the University of Antwerp. He is professor of Environmental Economics and leads the EnvEcon research team at the Department of Engineering Management. His research focuses on the economic and sustainability assessment of clean technology and agricultural systems, and on the interaction between economy, technology and ecology.