Belgian born in 1963, after graduating in Information and Communication Technologies, Michel started his career in software development consultancy and digitalization of the Pre-Press and Advertising sector. He moved in 1999 to EUREKA which is an intergovernmental initiative supporting European industry to foster its competitiveness through innovation cross border collaboration projects. In 2007 he was in the team that setup the European program Eurostars supporting innovative SMEs. He managed this programme from 2008. He joint EIT Raw Materials in 2018 as director of the Innovation Hub West and since 2021, he is director for the Innovation Hub West and Central covering EIT Raw Materials partners from UK, Benelux, Germany, France, Portugal and Switzerland. Michel has a long experience in collaborative and innovative projects, particularly projects involving SMEs and Start Ups. He strongly believes in innovation as one of the main tools to keep European Industry competitive.