Since 2011, MIT Technology Review has been performing a talent search in several European countries for the most talented young innovators and entrepreneurs who are developing new technologies to address the most pressing issues faced by society. To that end, the magazine, property of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has celebrated local editions of its most prestigious competition in Belgium, Spain, France, Poland, Germany and Italy, always pursuing the same objective: to award innovation. This year, with the support of BNP Paribas and L’Atelier BNP Paribas, the competition has gone one step further by aiming to compile a pool of 35 profiles within the entire European Union.
No fewer than 4 Belgians feature on MIT Technology Review’s prestigious list of European Innovators under 35. The magazine of the American University Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) thus shows its appreciation for the work of Damya Laoui, Victor Dillard, Julien De Wit and Vincent Spruyt.
The list of ‘Innovators under 35 Europe’ consists of 35 talented European innovators and entrepreneurs who were chosen from 1,100 entrants.
Damya Laoui conducts research into a new cancer treatment via ‘dendritic cells’, which form part of our own immune system. She is investigating the possibility of extracting cells from cancer patients’ tumours and re-injecting them into the host in order to slow tumour growth.
Victor Dillard designed an artificial intelligence platform facilitating the development of safe and efficient gene therapy.
Vincent Spruyt developed a machine learning platform for explaining and predicting human behaviour through big data. His Sentiance platform uses data from smartphone sensors and already has half a million users.
Julien De Wit is looking for new techniques to identify and study potentially habitable planets orbiting stars other than the sun. As a member of Michaël Gillon’s team, Julien de Wit played a major role in the recent discovery of four exoplanets around the ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. MIT Technology Review had previously also named Julien De Wit as Belgian Innovator of the Year 2017.