Erwin Verstraelen, Innovation Port of Antwerp-Bruges

Abstract

Ports around the world are transforming themselves to become smart. But what does that mean and why does it matter? Where does digital transformation, innovation and AI play a tangible role in all of this. Erwin Verstraelen, Vice President innovation, will take you on a journey through the last 7 years, a period that transformed the port of Antwerp-Bruges into an open innovation platform, resulting in many first of a kind in a port context. 

Bio:

As Vice president innovation, Erwin and his team transform the port into an innovation hub where the market readiness of promising tech such as drones, smart camera’s, autonomous ships and digital twins has been field tested and implemented over the past 5 years. It are building blocks of the emerging smart port. Smart also means resilient in turbulent times, being able to absorb disruptions and emerge stronger

He is also deeply involved in the Beacon, an ecosystem focusing on Internet of Things use cases, where startups, scaleups, academia and applied research come together. Erwin is also board member of several organizations and a well-respected keynote speaker.

What characterizes Erwin is a self-made quote: In life there are problems, challenges and opportunities. That’s actually three times the same thing, only the mindset is different.

[Slides]