FOOD2KNOW
YOUR TOP EXPERTS FOR INNOVATION
Summer School as part of the Doctoral Training Programme
“Plunge into your own business plan”
What?
Targeted audience and selection
When?
Where?
Course fee
Program
Lecturers
Registration
Contact person
What?
In the multidisciplinary world of today, having a PhD-degree alone is no longer enough. You have
proven to be an excellent scientist or engineer with very detailed expertise, able to perform high
quality research, and now you’re almost ready for the job market.
But do you have sufficient transferable skills? Do you know enough of those “other” fields of
expertise, often so important in industry or more general job functions?
Within this summer school, you will learn transferable skills related to business and management,
create your own business opportunity and develop a tailor-made business plan step by step.
Based on the motto “ideas are easy, but execution is everything”, this course combines the
theoretical ideas and knowledge with a large amount of practical work, which makes it easier to
acquire these skills.
Targeted audience and selection
The course will be taught in English and is aimed at (inter)national PhD-students (in their last
year), post-doctoral researchers or industrial participants, who want to learn the practice beyond
a good idea. However, also master students can subscribe.
Entrepreneurial students, with a vague idea of ‘wanting to do something’ have a +
When?
September 14-18, 2015
FOOD2KNOW
YOUR TOP EXPERTS FOR INNOVATION
Where?
The summer school will be hosted at Ghent University’s Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, block
B, room 0.034. An itinerary can be found here.
Address:
Coupure Links 653
9000 Gent – Belgium
Course fee

Free of charge for members of the Doctoral Schools
We will however charge a no show fee of €100 when subscribed but not attending



Other PhD and master students
Post-docs
External participants
€ 250
€ 750
€ 1250
The registration fee includes: admission to all classes, course notes, all scheduled lunches and
coffee breaks, as well as the reception on Thursday. Housing is not included.
Max. 35 participants – Certificate of attendance is provided.
Program
In this four-day summer school, dedicated sessions will be featured, each covering a part of
business development. Your own idea of a business concept will be used as a practical case.
The program can be divided in 5 large parts:
Module
Title
1. Corporate Strategy
Corporate Strategy and Organisation
2. Positioning and Technology
Creativity and Innovation
Intellectual Property
3. Marketing Plan
Market Analysis
Marketing
4. Operational Plan
Project Management
Operational Management
5. Financial Plan
Financial Plan
Investment Analysis
FOOD2KNOW
YOUR TOP EXPERTS FOR INNOVATION
Lecturers
1. Prof. dr. Benedikt Sas, Food2Know, Ghent University
Prof. Dr. Benedikt Sas, senior business developer (IOF), is working at Ghent University since May 2008 and is
currently acting as the Chief Business Officer for Food2Know and as a professor in the field of Corporate &
Innovation Management.
After obtaining his Ph.D. at Ghent University and several management courses at Vlerick (Ghent University)
and Templeton (Oxford University) he started working as an R&D Manager Chemistry for Kemin Europa
N.V., an international company active in the feed and pet food additive business. Later he became Director
of the R&D Department and R&D World-Wide Coordinator for the Kemin Industries Group covering all life
science divisions. In 2001 he was appointed President for the new start-up company Kemin Pharma.
B. Sas has a significant track record of bringing new products and technologies to the market, and of closing
strategic alliances or licensing deals. He also provides training to Ph.D students and post doc students on
business development, licensing and spin-offs. He is still involved in industry as member of the Board of
Advisors of several companies or as a consultant. He also provides expertise to working groups of the EU
Commission and for Courts in Belgium. He is inventor on numerous approved & commercialized patents
and author of peer-reviewed papers.
2. Prof. dr. Xavier Gellynck, Bio-economy, Ghent University
Xavier Gellynck is professor at Ghent University since 2002 and leads the division of Agri-food Marketing
and Chain Management. Xavier Gellynck was promoted in the Applied Economic Sciences on the theme of
the changing environment and competitiveness in the food industry. Professor Gellynck also has an M.S. in
Industrial Economics from Ghent University and obtained a MBA in Marketing Management of Service
Industries from the Business School IAAE at the University of Aix-Marseille in France. He is also founder and
chairman of the board of management of Afoheat NV, a food machinery construction company as well as a
member of the board of management of Landbouwkrediet NV. He leads a research group of around 15
people on topics such as innovation, networking, sensory analysis, and sustainability all in the agricultural
sector. Prof. Gellynck teaches at Ghent University in following courses: Inleiding tot bedrijfsbeheer,
Landbouw- en voedingseconomie and Sensorische Analyse.
3. Dr. Philippe Jacobs, Technology Transfer, Ghent University
Dr. Philippe Jacobs is the in-house European Patent Attorney of Tech Transfer UGent since May 2010. In
addition, he lectures at the University of Antwerp (UA). Prior to joining UGent he was director within the IP
firm ‘De Clercq & Partners’ and was a patent attorney within the tech transfer team of the Flanders
Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). Prior to joining VIB, he was a patent counsel in the intellectual property
department of Innogenetics, a Belgian biotech company active in healthcare. Dr. Jacobs holds a PhD in
Immunology from McGill University, Canada. In addition, Dr. Jacobs has 4 years teaching experience in
Rwanda and also holds a diploma in Tropical Medical Biology from the Institute for Tropical Medicine of
Antwerp, a Master of Science degree in biological control from McGill University and a licentiate degree in
botany from UGent.
FOOD2KNOW
YOUR TOP EXPERTS FOR INNOVATION
4. Dr. Annick Verween, Food2Know, Ghent University
Dr. Annick Verween is project manager at Food2Know and a biologist from education. Being one of the first
of her lab (Marine Biology) doing a PhD together with industry, she soon realised that fundamental
knowledge is just the top of the iceberg in the current economic environment. The necessary skills,
essential in communication with industrial partners, improved as her PhD went along, and afterwards, she
became technology developer (IOF), a function in which interaction and valorisation with external partners
is essential. Annick followed many courses on transferable skills, entrepreneurship and business
development and is responsible of training technology transfer skills within ongoing Tempus projects.
Registration
You can apply for this course by downloading the application form and sending the completed
form by email to: annick.verween@ugent.be.
The closing date for application is August 1st, 2015.
Contact person
Dr. Annick Verween
Project Manager
Ghent University - Food2Know
Coupure Links 653 blok B
9000 Gent
Belgium
annick.verween@ugent.be
Tel: +32 92 64 61 33