Technology Manager

Technology Manager

(Kortrijk, Lommel, Leuven)

You make sure Flanders Make stays ahead through explorative research.

Explorative research is an important part of the research process. It can help to generate new ideas, identify research gaps, understand complex phenomena, develop research questions, and improve research design.

As Technology Manager, you are responsible for the follow-up of the explorative research within the Flanders Make network. With this explorative research, we aim to stay ahead of relevant external technology roadmaps.

Job Description

You support the CTO in assessing which break-through technologies are needed at and should be further developed by Flanders Make. This requires a good overview of the relevant technology roadmaps, within and outside Flanders Make, and of the status of the technology development within Flanders Make. You coordinate the explorative research as preparation for new technology and projects.

You build a strong link with research and research track managers within the Flanders Make network to that you always have a good understanding of the explorative research requirements and are able to co-define them. You are responsible for defining the explorative research goals and actions, referred to by us as the individual CTO actions, and for the planning, budgeting and coordination of and reporting on this research. You not only coordinate the actions but also inspire, coach and steer your stakeholders towards excellent results.

More specifically, you will, amongst other things:

• Coach teams and individual team members carrying out CTO actions;
• Apply an appropriate management method (e.g. agile & lean), thus ensuring that the project results of CTO actions are delivered within the pre-set time and budget;
• Report to the CTO on the progress of CTO actions and coordinate/initiate mitigation actions if needed;
• Propose process improvements within Flanders Make wherever break-through technology and explorative research interact with other operational processes.
• Assume responsibility for the content of the communication on the explorative research within the Flanders Make network towards the various relevant stakeholders.

With your broad interest in technology development in general, you are enthusiastic to keep your learning scope open and acquire technical insight into developments that can add value to the implementation of Flanders Make's strategy, both from current explorative research results as from relevant international technology trends. This makes you an excellent advisor to the CTO, in assessing the level of ‘innovation’ of projects or other topics.

Profile

You have

• A Master’s degree in science/engineering within a relevant technological domain, e.g. mechatronics, production, … , with at least 10 years of experience in a technology-related job;
• Experience in research or technology exploration;
• Experience in project management of projects with multiple stakeholders;
• The ability to lead technical discussions with project leaders and experts. You are interested in and able to quickly learn about new technologies within Flanders Make’s research fields;
• An industrial mindset: you understand the needs of companies and can translate them into potential research projects for Flanders Make;
• Strong analytical and synthetic skills, so that you can at all times draw up a clear overview and summary of the results achieved, the next steps to be taken and the risks and potential countermeasures within and across research projects.

You are

• Able to analyse technical topics both broadly and in detail;
• A fluent communicator, with excellent written and spoken English language skills;
• Culturally sensitive;
• Empathic;
• A team player who can stimulate team work for mutual benefit;
• Able to work and keep on track within a complex stakeholders’ landscape by influencing and steering stakeholders in a non-hierarchical way.

Offer

• A job with impact on science and technology. You create leverage and synergies within Flanders Make and far beyond.
• The opportunity to develop yourself within our network of leading industrial companies, universities and research institutes;
• An open-minded, flexible and challenging work environment;
• A warm atmosphere and first-class colleagues;
• An attractive salary with fringe benefits.

About Flanders Make

Towards a digitally transformed, sustainable and competitive industry

Flanders Make is a fast-growing research centre that performs research to support companies from various sectors in their sustainable innovation processes. From our establishments in Lommel, Leuven, Kortrijk and Sint-Truiden and labs within the 5 Flemish universities, we stimulate open innovation through excellent research.

Because of our unique position as a bridge between industry and research, our teams combine application and system proficiency with technological and scientific knowledge. Academic partners and more than 150 companies are part of the innovative circular ecosystem of Flanders Make.

Our strategy based on industrial needs and long-term trends ensures a close link with the industry and its challenges. With our programmed research, we create impact in companies.

Sustainability, climate and workability have a high priority in our research. We want to help companies in developing sustainable, green, smart and connected products and production systems, with a special focus on people and their interaction with machines.

Explorative Research

Explorative research is a type of research that is conducted when researchers wish to explore a particular topic or phenomenon into which so far only little research has been conducted and that is not yet properly understood. This type of research is often used in the early stages to generate new ideas, hypotheses and theories that can then be further tested using other research methods such as SBO and IRVA projects and/or other external project tools.

There are several reasons why explorative research is important:

• Generating new ideas: Explorative research is important for generating new ideas and hypotheses that can be further explored and tested. This may lead to the development of new theories and a deeper understanding of particular phenomena.
• Identifying research gaps: Explorative research may help to identify gaps in a particular research field. By exploring a topic in detail, researchers may be able to discover areas that have not yet been properly researched or areas with conflicting evidence. This, in turn, may help to guide future research and prioritise research areas that need further investigation.
• Understanding complex phenomena: Explorative research may help researchers to understand complex phenomena that may be difficult to study using other research methods. By exploring a topic in detail, researchers may be able to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities involved and of the different factors that may have an impact on the phenomena in question.
• Defining research questions: Explorative research may help researchers to define research questions that can then be further explored using other research methods. By exploring a topic in detail, researchers may be able to identify key research questions that need to be answered and develop hypotheses that can be tested using other research methods.
• Improving research set-ups: Explorative research may help to improve research set-ups by identifying potential challenges and limitations that may have to be addressed in future research. By exploring a topic in detail, researchers may be able to identify potential biases, confounding factors and other limitations that may impact the validity of their research findings.
• Trend watching and scouting: Explorative research is important to scout new trends and phenomena and investigate their impact on Flanders Make’s activities.

In conclusion, explorative research is an important part of the research process. It may help to generate new ideas, identify research gaps and/or understand complex phenomena. Researchers should consider using explorative research in the early stages of their research projects to gain a deeper understanding of their topic of interest.

How to apply?

To apply, go to http://jobs.flandersmake.be.

Please fill in the online application form and upload a motivation letter and cv.