Dries van Gheluwe
Dries Van Gheluwe works as Manager Invest at Port of Antwerp-Bruges. He is responsible for all area development at the port, including NextGen District.
The Seaniors: NextGen District
NextGen District is the hotspot for innovative companies in green energy, recycling and circular industry in Port of Antwerp-Bruges. Get to know the people behind NextGen District.
Maarten Campman
Maarten Campman works as President of Manufacturing for TripleW, the first company to build at NextGen Demo. They want to use food waste to make lactic acid for bioplastics.
What achievement are you most proud of?
Dries: "The ecosystem we have created with NextGen District is truly unique. Although the biggest work is yet to be done. But you can see you are building something that has a lot of appeal, including from the outside."
Maarten: "In a period when it was very difficult for start-ups to unlock investment money, we were still able to make a successful financial round thanks to a good story. I'm proud of that."
The ecosystem we have created with NextGen District is truly unique.
Dries van Gheluwe,Investment Manager at Port of Antwerp-Bruges
If you didn't have your current position, which one would you like to do?
Maarten: "I can see myself teaching at a university. I enjoy passing on experience gained to the next generation. That's actually what I do at TripleW as well, in a slightly different form."
Dries: "I turn 37 tomorrow, so I won't be an Olympian anymore. Then I might choose your job. Also at a start-up, with a very dynamic working atmosphere, where you immediately see the impact of what you do."
What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?
Maarten: "That you have to let people do their work. This is often very difficult, because you often want to put your own stamp on everything. You have to delegate. And the people you delegate to are definitely going to do it differently than you would have done it yourself. That's often just right."
Dries: "When I got the chance to join our local youth center, my father immediately said: ‘Go for it! Because you're going to be working with people from all walks of life, who are going to want to cooperate in a different way or not at all. That's going to be the best learning experience of your life!’ And effectively so. I still think about those experiences almost every day. Falling down, getting up and keep going again."
I enjoy passing on experience gained to the next generation.
Maarten Campman,President of Manufacturing
TripleWWhat is the best compliment you have ever received?
Maarten: "I'm highly technically trained and have always worked in technical positions. A colleague once told me: "For a techie, you are incredibly human. I talk to an operator as respectfully as I talk to the director. I also got that compliment from someone I wasn't expecting it from."
Dries: "With me, it's just the opposite. A colleague who is an engineer once told me: "Because you're not an engineer, sometimes you think better than many engineers about how best to solve this. I thought that was a huge compliment."
NextGen District
NextGen District is the hotspot for innovative companies in green energy, recycling and circular industries.
