Flemish Government delegation visiting Intel Headquarters

[Christoph_Luykx]

On February 16th, a government delegation from Flanders (a region within Belgium) lead by its Minister President Kris Peeters and the Minister for innovation, Ingrid Lieten, visited Intel’s headquarters as part of a 5 day tour of California. The Ministers were joined by the head of the Flemish investment and Trade agency, the Belgian Consul-General, the CEO of Flemish research centre IMEC, several Flemish companies and press. Upon their arrival they were welcomed by Intel’s board member and Stanford Professor Jim Plummer. Mr Plummer is also a member of the scientific advisory board to IMEC and therefore a perfect host.

Intel and Flanders: a strong presence

Intel Architecture Group's (IAG) Chief Technology Officer Steve Pawlowski provided an overview of Intel’s activities highlighting Intel’s global reach, our different business groups and strong investment in R&D. Pawlowski also highlighted our work on HPC with a lab in Paris and negotiations under way for a Flemish lab. I - representing Intel’s global public policy group - then provided an overview of Intel’s presence and commitment to Flanders where Intel has a regional sales and marketing office, a government affairs office and an IAG solutions lab with a total headcount of around 60 people.

At the same time, I also highlighted areas of possible policy cooperation between Intel and the Flemish government with one example being the rotating six month EU presidency which will be taken up by Belgium in July this year, in close coordination with the Flemish government. This means that there are certain policy discussions where both Intel and the Flemish administration could work together. And last but not least, another example of Intel’s presence in Flanders is our relationship with IMEC.

Intel and IMEC: a strong partnership

Since 2003, Intel has been working with IMEC, located in the city of Leuven in Flanders. In a joint presentation Intel's Christof Krautschik and IMEC’s CEO Luc Van den Hove stressed the importance of this partnership.

Both Ministers expressed their gratitude for Intel’s continued commitment to Flanders and welcomed any strengthened cooperation with IMEC. The minister of innovation also expressed a great interest to explore further cooperation with Intel on certain policy issues and invited me for a follow up meeting. Intel’s VP and CIO Diane Bryant joined the delegation at the end for a photo opportunity, followed by a short tour of the Intel museum.