Defence Tech Day

After completing both academic and military training with the 138th Polytechnic class of the Royal Military Academy (RMA), Lieutenant Frédéric Goetynck graduated with a degree in civil engineering (construction). He began his professional career in 1989 with the 4th Engineer Battalion (4Gn).

Two years later, he joined the academic world as a teaching assistant and later as a lecturer in the Chair of Electricity at the RMA. He then served for three years as the construction site manager for the Defence in the Province of Liège.

In June 1999, he completed his senior officer training course and took on the role of officer in charge of training and operations within the 4Gn. In early 2001, he led a detachment tasked with renovating a clinic in Parakou, Benin.

In September 2001, as head of the civil engineering and architecture subsection within the Defence Infrastructure Division, he and his team developed technical guidelines for regional design offices, supervised and assisted project leads on major infrastructure projects, before joining the Royal Higher Institute for Defence for a year of advanced training.

With the rank of Major and the General Staff diploma (BEM), he was appointed in 2002 as an advisor in the administrative and technical secretariat of the Minister of Defence’s cabinet. There, he primarily dealt with infrastructure files, third-party support, environmental issues, and the sale of military equipment.

In March 2009, Lieutenant Colonel (BEM) Frédéric Goetynck took command of the 4Gn. During this time, from June to October 2009, he led the BELUFIL detachment, a Belgian-Luxembourg unit under UN command responsible for demining and marking the border between Lebanon and Israel.

After a six-month course at the NATO Defence College in Rome, he resumed leadership of the infrastructure section within the General Directorate for Material Resources in February 2012, managing the entire infrastructure portfolio of the Defence.

In 2015, he was again appointed head of the administrative and technical secretariat of the ministerial cabinet, preparing files directly for the Minister of Defence and their strategic team.

In June 2017, Major General Goetynck was appointed Deputy Director General for Material Resources, responsible for Infrastructure, Communications, and Information Systems.

On 1 July 2021, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and assumed the role of Director General for Material Resources and National Armaments Director. Around the same time, he had the honour of being appointed Aide-de-Camp to the King.

Three years later, in July 2024, he was appointed Vice Chief of Defence.

Lieutenant General Frédéric Goetynck is married and the proud father of three children: Audrey, Grégori, and Nathan.

Mr. Thijs van der Plas studied Law and Political Science at the University of Leiden. Since 1992 Mr. Van Plas is a diplomat in the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he has held various positions, both at the Ministry in The Hague and several posting outside the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Previous positions held by Mr. Thijs van der Plas:

2019 – 2022 Director General for Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague

2016 – 2019 Director General for European Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague (abroad Deputy Minister for European Affairs)

2013 – 2016 Deputy Director General for European Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague

2009 – 2013 Deputy Head of Mission, Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ankara, Turkey

2005 – 2009 Chief Legal advisor, Netherlands Permanent Representation to the EU

January – June 2005 Head of government team for the referendum on the European Constitution, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague

2002 – 2004 Head of negotiating team for the European Constitution,
European Integration Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague

1998 – 2002 Netherlands Permanent Representation to NATO, Focal Point European defence

1995 – 1998 Royal Netherlands Embassy in Sofia Bulgaria, Head of Economic Section

1992 – 1995 European Directorate, Eastern Europe section, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague

1991 Teacher, Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam

Moritz Zimmermann is a senior policy at NATO Headquarters, responsible for the Alliance’s efforts to accelerate adoption of new technological products developed by non traditional companies such as the ones participating in DIANA. Before that he was DIANA’s Chief of Staff in charge of the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the organisation. He has worked in NATO’s Innovation Policy since 2018.

Previously he worked in the European Commission and several German Ministries.

Flemish senior journalist-expert working for VRT (Flemish Radio and Television Broadcasting Organisation) since 1989. He is specialized in Defence and Arab world.

Born in Ghent on January 27, 1974. Studied History at Ghent University (Master's degree in 1996) and obtained a postgraduate degree in Business Administration and Communication at Hogeschool Gent. Franssen specializes in the Middle East, the Arab world, and defense.

As a journalist Franssen has covered wars and conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, … His work has been recognized with the Dexia Press Prize and the Prize for Radio Criticism in 2005, the Belfius Press Prize in 2012, and a second prize at the Prix Bayeux Calvados des Correspondents de Guerre in 2012 for his reporting work. He has published works including “Vrede in tijden van Oorlog” (Peace in times of War) 2025, "De Laatste Getuigen" (The Last Witnesses) in 2005 and "Bang Voor De Bom" (Afraid of the Bomb) in 2006.

In addition to his journalistic work, Franssen is a defense expert for VRT NWS, a guest lecturer and moderator at the Royal Military School (RMS). At RMS he followed the “High Studies in Security and Defence”. As a first he followed the EU Senior Strategic Course (Brussels/Paris/Berlin. In 2014 he was a “wise pen” to the Minister of Defence for the “Strategic Plan 2015-2030”. He was the guest curator of the exhibition "Onbekende Beelden, Sterke Verhalen, Belgen in Oorlog" (Unknown Images, Powerful Stories, Belgians at War) in Ghent.

Agnès Flémal graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at Mons in 1984 and earned a postgraduate degree in business law in 1988. That same year, she took over the family business APPARELEC, steering it towards intelligent building automation before selling it to the CFE group in 1996. She also became the first Vice President of the Association of Engineers of Mons (AIMs).

She later founded TECHPLUS, specializing in high-temperature endoscopic vision systems exported worldwide. Agnès served for 10 years as a consular judge at the Charleroi Commercial Court and as an expert for the European Commission in emerging technologies, while also advising the Walloon Minister of Economy and Research.

In 2002, she launched and has since led WSL, the high-tech incubator for Wallonia, which by 2024 supports over 75 start-ups and is recognized as a leading European accelerator in the defense sector.

In 2021, she led the integration of the Belgian accelerator in DIANA, NATO’s deep tech innovation accelerator, the first startup defense program across the Alliance. Certified in Operational Foresight by the Destrée Institute, where she is a board member and trainer, she also serves as a Belgian expert for the European Commission's Open Strategic Autonomy (OSA) program and the Egmont Institute’s Foresight Network. Most recently, she has been assigned as an expert advisor to help align the startup ecosystem with defense needs in the adoption of emerging technologies.

Frank Gielen began his career as a technical officer in the Belgian Army and brings a unique blend of experience at the intersection of defence, advanced R&D, and early-stage innovation. A graduate in telecom systems engineering from the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, he served as an Air Defence Missile System Officer for NATO in Germany during the Cold War, gaining early exposure to mission-critical technologies and international defence collaboration.

He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and transitioned to the private sector in 1994, joining AT&T Bell Labs in the US. He later played a key role in the DARPA-backed spin-off Tellium, which developed secure optical networks and successfully IPO’d on NASDAQ in 2001. This experience highlighted how tech-driven ventures can drive high-impact innovation in the defence sector.

 Upon returning to Europe, Frank led early-stage investment initiatives for university funds, taught software architecture and innovation at Ghent University, and became Director of Incubation at iMinds (now IMEC), where he launched the iStart program - ranked Europe’s top university-business accelerator.

 Currently, as Executive Director and Partner at InnoEnergy, he invests in early-stage climate tech ventures across Europe. His work increasingly explores the convergence between energy and defense innovation, recognizing their shared strategic challenges and opportunities_._

Stephan is CEO and founder of Lobster Robotics. The idea started as a study project with 5 fellow students and 6 years later the team is still going strong.

Lobster Robotics is a high-tech company based in the Netherlands. Lobster designs, manufactures, and rents out fully integrated underwater drones, delivering high-resolution seabed insights with minimal effort. By combining cutting-edge robotics, automation, and data processing, Lobster eliminates the tradeoffs between scale, precision, and efficiency. Trusted by industry leaders, Lobster is setting new standards for how seabed intelligence is acquired, verified, and applied to critical decision-making.

Lobster Robotics is alumnus of the NATO DIANA 2024 cohort.

Belinda Smeenk is Staff advisor Strategy Knowledge & Innovation at the Royal Netherland Army (RNLA). She is working at the RNLA staff, in the Directorate Plans, for 17 years now.

Before that she was Operational Analyst (OA) for the Army at TNO Research for Defence and security for 10 years, and has been sent on mission to Afghanistan in 2006. She has studied Operations Research at the university of Tilburg.

In her role at the RNLA staff she is the main planner for the strategic ambition and innovation roadmaps for the RNLA. She is coordinating European Defence Fund Development actions en international development initiatives for long term innovation, but also stimulating the short term innovation through technology development, experimentation and implementation.

Emma Claeys is business development manager for R&D in defence technologies at dotOcean, where she drives international research collaborations and innovation initiatives. Over the past three years, she has helped shape cross-border partnerships and advance cutting-edge projects across Europe.

While completing her Master’s degree in Business Engineering, majoring in Production and Logistics, Emma co-founded a start-up, sparking her passion for technology-driven entrepreneurship. She then joined ORMIT, completing a multi-company management traineeship that provided a broad foundation in business operations and leadership. Before dotOcean, she worked at Flanders Make, the Flemish strategic research center for the manufacturing industry, focusing on business development for robotics and AI applications.

Emma specializes in setting up and coordinating international consortia under programs such as the European Defence Fund (EDF) and Horizon Europe, helping bridge emerging technologies and defence innovation. Today, she plays a key role in expanding dotOcean’s R&D strategy and fostering collaboration between industry, academia, and government stakeholders.

Chris Gillian is the accelerator network lead at NATO DIANA, where he has played a central role since its inception. With a strong background in innovation programmes and commercialization, Chris has helped build and coordinate DIANA’s accelerator network—supporting cohorts of innovators as they develop solutions for the Alliance’s most pressing challenges. He is passionate about connecting innovation ecosystems to accelerator solutions across the transatlantic defence and security landscape.

Alexander Ribbink is the co-founder and General Partner at Keen Venture Partners. Prior to his career in venture capital, Ribbink held executive positions at several multinational firms and served as TomTom's COO- leading the firm through to its IPO. Ribbink has been a vocal advocate for the defence ecosystem for many years and sits on several advisory boards committed to the future of European peace and security. 

Keen Venture Partners is a European venture capital firm investing in exceptional teams building transformative companies, with two sector-specific focuses on productivity software and defence technologies. Founded in 2016, Keen has backed European champions in B2B software, and is now raising a defence fund to provide targeted support to Europe's emergent defence industry. Keen's defence fund is led by an investor team with in-depth knowledge of, and experience inside, the European defence ecosystem, preparing to support the continent's boldest founders from pre-seed to Series B.

Ernst is Investment Director of the Dutch SecFund, where he is responsible for the commercial investment team and execution of the investment strategy. Before starting in this role Ernst has a +15 yr experience in investment management, focusing on renewable energy projects and energy ventures across Europe. In these roles he was responsible for managing diversified portfolios for institutional and high-net-worth clients, developing new segments in the market and member of the investment committee.

 The SecFund is a new (envisaged) EUR 100mln fund set up to play an important role in the funding landscape for early stage Dual Use companies. The fund is a collaboration between the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Regional Development Agencies, united under ROM-Nederland. The Brabant Development Agency (BOM) manages the fund on behalf of all regional development agencies. The SecFund strengthens national security and strategic autonomy in The Netherlands by providing early-stage financing to innovative Dutch enterprises working on dual-use solutions—technologies or products that can be used for both civilian and military applications.