Jan Bormans’ passion is working with people to make innovation and entrepreneurial creativity happen. He has a substantial background in high-tech and uniquely combines this with extensive experience in corporate innovation. He has been active in the Belgian and European startup scene since 2010. Jan has been active in European projects as participant, reviewer and rapporteur since 1996.

Emily completed her studies in the U.S. and began her professional career in Brussels, where she has established experience in European projects like SEP 2.0 and CORSHIP and provided political support to the startup ecosystem. She has worked on documents like “Startup and Scaleup Ecosystem Recommendations for Policy Change” (2018) and the upcoming Pan-European Manifesto (2019). Emily also handles internal and external communication for the network, ensuring that ESN maintains strong relationships between member associations and creates connections with new partners on a consistent basis.

Marlène Bouhon is a business student fascinated by the startup world. She is in charge of selecting promising companies and initiating contact with them. She believes that great ideas should be given a chance to succeed and to benefit as many people as possible.

Intrigued by everything that involves startups and innovation, Andries is a passionate business intern. He considers startups and scaleups as fundamental and crucial organizations that are a prerequisite for a more innovative and more sustainable business environment.