Head of the Valorisation Office (TTO) at the University of Antwerp, Belgium
Since 2016 Jurgen Joossens has been the head of the Valorisation Office (TTO) at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. The core mission of this office is to support researchers in the protection and exploitation of scientific knowledge and intellectual property. The Valorisation Office team disseminates the available knowledge and technology and searches for the most suitable valorisation strategy. This can be either through a research collaboration, a license to a private partner and / or by setting up a own spin-off company. The office provides our researchers with training on entrepreneurship and intellectual property management. The Valorisation Office manages the Industrial Research Fund (IOF) and reports to the Flemish government.
He is also member of the Board of Directors of UBIS NV, the incubator of the University of Antwerp. Since 2017 he has been the representative of TTO Flanders in the NAAC.
Jurgen Joossens obtained a pharmaceutical degree (2000) and a PhD in medicinal chemistry (2005). In 2005 he obtained a scientist position at Janssen Pharmaceutica (J&J). After that position he returned to the University of Antwerp as valorisation manager at the Antwerp Drug Discovery Network. During his scientific period, he co-authored more than 60 scientific publications and he was co-inventor on 9 patent applications.