Hans De Canck

Hans De Canck joined imec-SMIT, VUB early 2025 as Deputy Director, coordinating operations, organisational development and strategic direction of the research group. Previously (2019) he was founder and director and coordinator of FARI – AI for the Common Good Institute and the AI Experience Center at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB). The VUB/ULB initiative FARI supports the development of the European Digital Innovation Hub in Brussels.

Hans holds a licentiate in Modern History (KULeuven), master in Informatics, Information and Library Science (UvA) and a postgraduate in Economics (Ehsal). He has a professional background in Digital Innovation & People Management and worked in the past 15 years for several Research and Technology Organizations like iMinds (HR Director), imec (Business Partner) and VITO (Organization Development Manager). Between 2005 and 2013 he was Research Manager at research group SMIT at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Before his career in Research & Innovation, he worked for six years at a start-up software company (ELiAS) during the first wild digital innovation era at the end of the nineties.

He was an active member of several network organisations like EARTO and CLAIRE/CAIRNE, the European Network of AI Research Labs. Currently he acts as an Advisor to the FARI institute and other initiatives in the field of Digital Innovation.