Marc Van Gastel

On March 30th, 2020, Prof. Marc Van Gastel passed away, suffering from extended heart problems. Please read the In Memoriam of Marc Van Gastel.

Marc Van Gastel, MBA heads the Invest Department at Flanders Investment and Trade, an autonomous agency of the Flemish Government (Belgium). It is responsible for the attraction and development of foreign investment in the Northern region of Belgium - Flanders. It develops sustainable relationships with foreign companies interested in investing in Flanders and provide on-going assistance to companies locating here, together with its sister-agencies and strategic partners. A range of services and incentives, including financial & structural modelling, funding and grants, are available to those considering foreign direct investment in Flanders. For companies already in the region, Flanders Investment & Trade assists in numerous matters, including plant expansions or export services.
He is also one of the founders of Locate in Limburg and serves as Secretary on its Board of Directors.

From 2008-2011, Marc was the Director of Deloitte’s Innovation Center of Excellence and active in the consulting and corporate finance arm of Deloitte’s Belgium practice.
The Innovation Center of Excellence has particular focus on developing and delivering guiding services in support of the innovation programs of Deloitte clients. It gathers advisors from all Deloitte’s business units who have in-depth knowledge and experience in the field of counselling high tech companies, starters, growth SME’s, large enterprises and R&D intensive corporations. Marc also delivered strategic management consulting to large organizations, Midcaps and SME’s. Core themes are Corporate finance, Performance Management, Leadership, Balanced Scorecard, Strategy Maps, ecommerce, etc.)

From March 1, 2005 to end of 2007 Marc was appointed as Senior Advisor to the Flemish Minister of Economics, Foreign Trade, Science and Innovation and at the Department for Economy, Science and Innovation.

From 2003-2005 Marc has been doing extensive advisory work at IWT, the Flemish Government Agency for the promotion of Innovation and Science, in the fields of Biotech, ICT and Chemistry, and in the domain of Performance Management, revising the Strategic Information Plan for several Agencies within the government, in Public Private Partnerships and in businesses altogether.

Before 2003, he was a founder/owner of MDS and Medialine, 2 companies active in consultancy, coaching, assessing, monitoring and administering ERP systems. Strategic Consulting have always been an integral part of the work, and this was managed from within the client environment and part through web-based applications. Performance management has become one of the main points of attention in his work, through the application of Strategy Maps and Balanced Scorecards. At Antilope Group (’97-2003), Marc was Director of New Media, responsible for the digital media strategy and execution of this leading printing and communication house.

Marc has acquired a Master’s Degree in Science, a Master’s Degree in Government Policy, a Postgraduate Certification in Economics and a Postgraduate degree in Computer Science.

As part-time lecturer and Guest lecturer Marc has been teaching all his working life at several higher educational institutes, as Adjoint Professor at Vesalius College/VUB in Brussels and as Freelance Lecturer at the Antwerp Management School, the Universities of Hasselt, ULeuven, VUB, for Strategic Management, part-time lecturer at SYNTRA Antwerp, at the Vlerick Management School. The diverse topics include Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Government Policy, Investment Strategies, Corporate Finance, ERP, Business Intelligence and e-commerce. He features as a Guest Lecturer at several universities around the world. He has organized, moderated and conducted seminars in numerous countries and platforms around the world.