Philippe van Nedervelde, Secretary for International Relations and Treasurer

 

Philippe van Nedervelde (Aalst, Belgium, 1967) is a transhumanist entrepreneur and communicator.

 

Other present and past affiliations:

 

• Member of the Board of Directors of the Lifeboat Foundation

• Executive Director for Europe of the Foresight Institute

• Member of the “Global Task Force” of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology

• Member of the Advisory Board and Executive Advisory Team of the (defunct) Extropy Institute

• Founder and CEO of E-spaces

• Founder and CTO of Panoptic Systems

• Futurist Advisor to the Future Technologies Advisory Group

 

Philippe has represented the Foresight Institute in Europe since 1997. He does so through multimedia presentations to audiences of any size and composition (academic, business, government, civil); dealing with the media; representing the Foresight Institute at European Union events, such as parliamentary hearings; and by assisting and supporting Foresight Institute executives when they travel to Europe to give lectures, etc.

 

With a special gift for languages, Philippe is fluent in 5 languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch… with Russian being his sixth language, which he is learning as he is married to a lovely Russian woman.

 

A professional speaker, he focuses his educational and communication efforts on making the implications of these complex and multidimensional technologies understandable, especially to ordinary people.

 

Philippe co-authored the Foresight Guidelines for Molecular Nanotechnology, a proposed tool for self-regulation of the nanotechnology field, and the growing nanotechnology industry, to try to ensure that the research, development and introduction into the markets of these technologies are done safely and responsibly.

 

Given his military experience with defensive strategies against weapons of mass destruction—he completed Special Officer Training on Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons, Defense and Countermeasures, in his position as a Reserve Officer of the Belgian Army—he is also particularly interested in mitigating the risks of weapons of mass destruction, and other risks to national and international security, arising from NBIC (NanoBioInfoCogno) technologies.

 

In January 2004, Philippe was invited and participated, as an international expert on innovative emerging technologies, including nanotechnology, in a select External Expert Working Group on Unconventional Threats to Security, organized in Washington D.C. by the CIA's Strategic Assessment Group.

 

As a speaker, and as an entrepreneur, his work is motivated by a passionate desire to serve and assist the aspirations of societies, organizations and individuals for self-improvement through the careful, judicious but committed application of powerful emerging technologies, in particular nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive technologies, also known as NBIC convergence technologies.

 

As an entrepreneur, since the early 1990s, Philippe's primary profession and business has been online interactive 3D graphics, also known as networked or multi-user Virtual Reality. Philippe is the award-winning founder, CEO and majority owner of E-spaces, his Virtual Reality production company, which specializes in the production of multi-user virtual worlds and communities for businesses, governments, educators and consumers.

 

E-spaces has executed over 50 interactive 3D Virtual Reality projects. Its international roster of major clients includes NASA, UNESCO, the European Commission, the Government of Flanders, Ericsson Business Networks, Nokia and IBM. E-spaces is based in Belgium, with production studios in several locations across Eastern Europe, as well as a satellite office in Los Angeles.

 

Philippe holds a Master of Communications, as well as a postgraduate degree in Media and Information Sciences, from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.