How to design our digital future? | Belgium and Luxembourg

Inspiring Belgium

The accelerating pace of digitization and innovation presents many challenges and opportunities. While COVID-19 has greatly increased the adoption of digital technology and forced companies to be more innovative, it also impacted the future of work. The latest research suggests that one in 16 people may have to change occupations between now and 2030.

The Questions

How can Belgium ensure that digital innovation brings about widespread positive impact? What steps can small and large businesses take today? How might digitization affect the labor market? How can the current and future workforce prepare themselves for jobs that may not exist yet?

Inspiring Belgium

This one-hour session brings together Belgian leaders and experts on digital, including: Guillaume Boutin, CEO of Proximus; Charlotte Gréant, general manager of Startups.be ǀ Scale-Ups.eu; Rik Van de Walle, rector of Ghent University; and Ruben Schaubroeck, senior partner at McKinsey & Company. Luc Blyaert will moderate the session.

Guillaume, Charlotte, and Rik will present their unique vision for the future, based on their professional backgrounds, in a ten-minute keynote. Ruben will add a digital snapshot of Belgium, showing how digital our country really is. Luc will then guide all four panelists through an animated debate on the topic.

Want to gain a fresh perspective on Belgium’s digital future? Join the live session on June 17.

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Digital presenters

Guillaume Boutin

Guillaume Boutin has been chief executive officer since December 1, 2019 and presides over the Executive Committee of Proximus. He is a member of the BICS board, as well as member of the Proximus Art Board.

Previously, Guillaume joined the Proximus Executive Committee as chief consumer market officer in August 2017.

Guillaume started his career joining a web start-up. He then joined SFR where he successively held various positions in strategy, finance, and marketing until he joined Canal+ Group in 2015 as chief marketing officer.

He holds a “baccalauréat scientifique,” as well as a degree in telecommunications engineering (Telecom Sud Paris “Programme Grande Ecole”, 1997) and a degree from HEC Paris, “Programme Grande Ecole”, obtained in 1999.

Charlotte Gréant

Charlotte Gréant is the general manager of Startups.be | Scale-Ups.eu, the biggest startup ecosystem in Belgium. The ecosystem is the leading growth platform in Belgium that connects Europe's most promising startups and scale-ups with our network of deep-pocket investors, corporate buyers, global partners, and relevant stakeholders. Its goal is to fast-track innovation and collaboration with high-tech companies.

Charlotte started her career in Benin as the manager of a public transport company called Baobab Express. Under her leadership, the company grew from 12 to 50 employees and became a high-performing and profitable local company. Before joining Startups.be | Scale-Ups.eu, Charlotte spent four years in the United States (San Francisco and New York), where she launched and grew the B-Hive US Hub, focusing on a variety of fields, including business development as a service for European startups and ecosystem building.

Rik Van de Walle

Rik Van de Walle is rector of Ghent University, one of the largest universities in Belgium. He obtained the degrees of Master of Science in Engineering Physics and Doctor of Engineering at Ghent University.

In 2001 after a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona, Rik returned to Ghent, became a full-time assistant professor, and set up the Multimedia Lab, one of the founding research groups of iMinds (since 2016: imec).

In 2004 he became full professor, and in 2010 senior full professor. After a merger with two other research groups across departmental and even university boundaries, the Multimedia Lab was renamed in 2016 as Internet and Data Lab (IDLab), which encompasses about 300 members.

After five years as dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Rik became rector in 2017. In 2019, he was elected president of CESAER, one of the most important associations of universities in Europe.

Ruben Schaubroeck

As a core leader of the firm’s global High Tech, Media & Entertainment, and Telecommunications Practices, Ruben Schaubroeck leads digital and analytics transformations. Driven by his passion for creating real, lasting change in organizations, he has worked with more than 20 organizations around the globe on their digital and analytics transformation journeys.

Ruben also leads McKinsey Digital in Northern Europe (Benelux and Scandinavia), helping companies to transform their core business—using all the opportunities created by digital and analytics—to create distinctive customer experience, new growth opportunities, and sustainable cost leadership. In Northern Europe, he works with companies across many different sectors, including telecommunications, software, banking, insurance, utilities, and the public sector.

Luc Blyaert

Luc Blyaert is a digital expert with more than 30 years of experience in media and technology. He is an honorary fellow of the economy department of KU Leuven University and started his career in Brussels at the news desk of the biggest Belgian newspaper in the eighties, but shifted his focus to technology quickly after.

Data News was his breakthrough, with the organization of major events like the “Awards of Excellence,” the “CIO of the Year” and the “ICT Woman of the Year.” As editor-in-chief, he received several awards, including the best integration of paper and digital.