Mr. Kris Vanderhauwaert graduated in 2000 at the Ghent University as Master in Political sciences, specialization Public Management. He owns a post-graduate in Communication (Ghent University) and started his professional career at the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO). In 2004, he became counsellor of several Ministers of Science Policy where he was responsible for providing policy advice for space, aeronautics and defence related matters. He held this position for more than seven years. In 2011, he joined the European Commission as Belgian national expert where he was involved in the execution of the European GNSS programmes Galileo and EGNOS. In 2012, Kris became assistant-director at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, an international research institute located in Belgium. In 2019 he joined the Flemish Space Industry Association (VRI) and acts as Managing Director and Manager of the Flanders Space cluster organisation, an initiative supported by the Flemish regional authority to shape the space economy in Flanders. In parallel, he works as a consultant for SME4SPACE, the European association of SMEs involved in space activities.