Deep-tech Dive Japan

Katrien Marent

EVP & Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, imec

Katrien Marent joined imec in 1992 as analog design engineer. In 1999, she became press responsible and scientific editor. In 2001, she was appointed corporate communications director at imec. In October 2016, she became VP corporate, marketing and outreach communications. Since April 2020, she is EVP and member of imec's executive board.

Patrick Vandenameele

EVP & CEO-Elect, imec

Patrick Vandenameele will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer at imec, a globally recognized R&D center specializing in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, effective April 1, 2026. Prior to this appointment, he served as Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer at imec until October 2025, where he was responsible for overseeing and shaping the organization's R&D strategy and its execution.  

As chief architect of imec’s research direction, Patrick was responsible for shaping and driving the center’s innovation agenda, ensuring the alignment of research initiatives with emerging market needs, partner priorities and technological frontiers. Previously, as chief portfolio officer at imec until early 2024, he spearheaded strategic initiatives spanning business development, portfolio management, and venture creation.

His leadership underpins imec’s commitment to addressing market-driven application challenges while advancing its world-class technology platforms through targeted internal investments and external collaborations.

Holding a PhD from KU Leuven, Patrick began his journey with imec in 1996, contributing to the wireless communications program. In 2000, he transitioned to entrepreneurship, founding and leading several deep-tech ventures, three of which were built on imec technology.

Throughout his career, Patrick has demonstrated exceptional leadership, serving in senior roles at industry-leading semiconductor companies such as Qorvo and Hisilicon/Huawei. His innovative efforts have culminated in 11 successful product launches and the shipment of over 100 million units globally.

After returning to imec in 2017, prior to his recent roles as part of imec's leadership team, Patrick has been instrumental in scaling its venture development activities, working closely with the deep-tech venturing fund imec.xpand to strengthen imec’s position as a pioneer in technology-driven solutions. Starting in April 2026, Patrick will assume the role of CEO of imec. 

Hiroshi Saigusa

CEO, RISE-A

Hiroshi Saigusa is CEO of RISE-A, Co-CEO of the Life Science Innovation Network Japan (LINK-J), and Fellow (Innovation) at Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo in 1989 and later earned a degree from the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo in 1998. Hiroshi began his career at Mitsui Fudosan in 1989 and has since held a range of leadership roles across planning, research, and urban development. In 2017, he was appointed General Manager of the Life Science Innovation Department, and in 2023 became Fellow (Life Science). The following year, he was named Fellow (Innovation), a role he continues to hold alongside his leadership positions at LINK-J and RISE-A.

 

Olivier Rousseaux

Director Venture Development, imec

Olivier Rousseaux serves as the Director of Venture Development at imec, a global leader in nano- and digital technologies. In this pivotal role, Olivier and his team are at the forefront of creating groundbreaking deeptech ventures, leveraging imec's most innovative advancements.

Olivier brings a unique blend of technology and business expertise to the table. On the technical side, he holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from K.U. Leuven and has a distinguished background as the CTO of a fabless semiconductor startup. At imec, he has also led a research group specializing in wireless communications.

Complementing his deeptech background, Olivier boasts significant business experience. He earned an EMBA from the Solvay Business School and honed his strategic skills as a Strategy Consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. His extensive experience includes various executive roles in Business Line Management and Corporate Strategy at Commscope, a leading provider of telecom equipment.

Michael Peeters

VP Connected Computing, imec

“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” This quote, attributed to Einstein, Feynman, and others, encapsulates the key element in achieving success in every endeavor in research and development. Whether it pertains to technical or business aspects, this principle drives the three skills that Michael constantly aims to improve: understanding, communicating, and focusing on reducing things to their core.

Currently, Michael Peeters serves as the Vice President and Sector lead of Connected Computing at imec, focussing on creating new approaches to computing, connectivity and their joint architecture, and pushing existing approaches to their utmost performance, to enable continued sustainable growth and the positive impact of computing on society in the coming decade. Previous experiences as CTO for respectively the Wireline and Wireless business lines at what is now Nokia were built on the culture, enthusiasm, and love for technology and science fostered during time as a departement director at Bell Labs, as well as the principles of Free Inquiry instilled by his Alma Mater, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

Throughout their research career, which began with a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Photonics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Michael has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, numerous white papers, and holds patents in the access and photonics domains. Trained as an electrotechnical engineer, he is a senior member of IEEE and a Fellow of the VUB.

Outside of work, Michael Peeters (imec) balances their quest to discover the perfect lasagna recipe with long-distance running to offset the inherent caloric intake. They accept both (he/him) and (they/them) pronouns.

Pawel Malinowski

Portfolio Manager Industry, imec

Pawel E. Malinowski has been working at imec since 2006. In 2011, he received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the KU Leuven (III-nitride-based imagers for space applications). In several R&D roles, he worked on different disruptive optoelectronic technologies, including photodetectors (x-ray, EUV, UV, NIR, SWIR), image sensors (CMOS- and TFT-based) and displays (OLED). In his current role as Portfolio Manager Industry, he is working closely with imec’s technology and business teams to shape the roadmap and offering, drive innovation investments and support collaborations. Pawel has co-authored more than 80 publications and submitted 9 patent applications. Member of the program committee of SEMI MEMS & Imaging Sensors Summit. Member of ODI Committee of IEEE-IEDM in 2018-2019. Recipient of the International Display Workshops Best Paper Award in 2014 and the SID Display Week Distinguished Paper Award in 2018. 

Bert Gyselinckx

Partner, imec.xpand

Bert Gyselinckx is an electrical engineer and IC designer by training investing in deep-tech opportunities. He is always looking to help companies to realize their ideas involving semiconductor or photonics technology.

Mike Noonen

CEO, Swave Photonics

Mike Noonen is CEO of Swave Photonics and has 30 years of experience leading technology businesses resulting in two IPOs and multiple acquisitions. Most recently he was the CEO of MixComm acquired by Sivers Semiconductor in early 2022.

Noonen was the Chairman and co-founder of Silicon Catalyst, the World’s 1st semiconductor incubator and EE Times 2015 Start-up of the Year. He has advised and led turnarounds at numerous innovative private and public companies such as Ambiq Micro, SiFive, Silego (acquired by Dialog Semiconductor), Mythic, Kilopass, Adapteva and Rambus. Previously, Noonen was EVP, Global Products, Design, Sales, & Marketing at GlobalFoundries and EVP, Worldwide Sales & Marketing, at NXP Semiconductors.

In 2013 he was elected to the Global Semiconductor Alliance Board of Directors He holds a BSEE from Colorado State University and in 2012 was named the College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni of the Year. Noonen holds multiple patents in the areas of Internet telephony and video communications.  

Sylvain Dubois

Co-Founder & CEO, Vertical Compute

Sylvain Dubois, a business executive with 25 years of experience in the compute and memory fields, has extensive knowledge of the deep tech ecosystem and a strong understanding of the memory bottleneck problem, which he explored during his time at Google.

Before founding Vertical Compute, Sylvain Dubois held the position of Advanced Technology Sourcing & Partnerships for the Google Cloud Infrastructure group in Sunnyvale, CA. His responsibilities included identifying, analyzing, and developing emerging technology trends, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence hardware acceleration compute chips, memory, and chiplet integration. Prior to his role at Google, he served as Vice-President of Business at Crossbar, a California-based deep tech startup specializing in novel memory development, where he played a key role in several fundraising rounds.

Chiaki Ozeki

CEO, Vision IV

Chiaki Ozeki graduated from  Kyoto University with an MBA from the Wharton School,  held senior finance positions at foreign investment banks (Goldman Sachs, UBS, Salomon Brothers), GE, NIDEC and Nikon before founding VISION IV in 2021.  Chiaki first learned about synthetic diamonds from an anniversary gift for his wife and considered entering the jewelry business. However, he made a major pivot toward developing diamond substrates for semiconductors and electrodes to contribute  to solving energy problems.   VISION IV  develops, manufactures, and distributes diamond electrodes, and diamond substrates for radiation and quantum sensors and power semiconductors.

Hiroki Toda

Principal, The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC)

Hiroki Toda has a Ph.D. in Engineering from The University of Tokyo.  He has also received the Dean’s Award (Research). Former consultant at Bain & Company, where he worked on private equity due diligence and cost optimization for consumer goods companies. Joined UTEC in May 2023, focusing on investments and business development in physical sciences, particularly semiconductors and robotics. Appointed Evangelist upon the establishment of RISE-A.

Yuhei Nagai

CFO, Ookuma Diamond Devices

Graduated from the Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University. Began his career at Sojitz Corporation, where he was involved in cross-border mergers, acquisitions, and related operations. At Terra Drone Corporation, he led the acquisition, post-merger integration, and subsequent divestiture of a local company as regional head of the CIS area. Upon returning to Japan, he served as CFO and led a successful Series A fundraising round of over 1.5 billion yen. He has been involved with Ookuma Diamond Device since before its founding and officially joined as CFO in June 2023.

Kento Nakao

Co-Founder & CEO, Gaianixx

Kento, Nakao is a seasoned executive who began his career in the manufacturing industry (automotive, aerospace, semiconductors) after graduating from Seikei University with a B.A. in Economics.
He later joined a global electronics manufacturer, successfully scaling the semiconductor business for Japanese clients worldwide. He managed and expanded operations across key global markets, including Japan, the US, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia.
After leading global sales operations from an overseas post (starting 2015), Kento was appointed President and Representative Director of the Japan subsidiary in 2019, taking full P&L and executive management responsibility.
Driven by the mission to revolutionize the semiconductor industry with advanced materials technology from the University of Tokyo, he has co-founded "Gaianixx Inc." in 2021 with Dr. Takeshi Kijima, a Project Researcher at the University of Tokyo.  

Taiki Sato

CEO, TopoLogic

Taiki Sato is the CEO of TopoLogic, bringing his management expertise in the manufacturing industry from multiple years working as a consultant at McKinsey serving Japanese clients across multiple industry sectors. Sato graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Master’s degree in Engineering, then moved on to management consulting for automotive, high tech industry sectors. Sato also managed the autonomous drone business for an air mobility startup, developing new businesses and technology for autonomous indoor inspection drones. Sato joined TopoLogic in 2021 as one of the co-founders, leading the business and development fronts of the company.