Academics for Technology

Academics for Technology (AFT) is a non-profit organization introducing students to entrepreneurship and technology. Through our events and workshops, students have the opportunity to continuously develop and challenge themselves and others. AFT sees the future as being technology centered and believes that everyone will be involved with technology in some way or another throughout his or her professional life. Therefore it strives to:

INNOVATE

Technology goes hand in hand with innovation. AFT provides students the opportunity to discover this relationship for themselves. Introducing them to different innovative technologies and bringing them in contact with the most innovative people in Belgium and beyond!

CHALLENGE

AFT challenges students to be an entrepreneur themselves in a wide definition of the word. Creating own ideas and working them out with professional help along the path. Participants are challenged to be more than just a student: to impress and be impressed!

EXCITE

It’s all about excitement. AFT tries to get people excited about technology and entrepreneurship. Getting students motivated to learn something more, to do something more, that’s what we aim to do and what excites us!

EVENTS

Throughout the year, focus lies on a selection of high-quality events. Some of them have grown to be flagships of Academics For Technology portraying all the values it stands for. A prime example of this is the Woman in Tech Gala! The Women in Tech Gala brings the opportunity to listen to the most influential female leaders in the Belgian technology.The world must break down gender barriers in order to build a balanced workforce of the future. Over the years of organizing this event, the event has seen considerable growth leading us to believe that our message is heard, bringing us one step closer to gender equality in the workplace.

Alongside Academics for Development, AFT organises the CleanTech Challenge. As climate has been in the spotlights recently, this event reflects perfectly current topics in the world.This challenge tries to give students the opportunity to give back to society by coming up with green solutions. The Belgian competition will determine who will be sent to the finals in London, organized by the London Business School, and there they will compete for the £10.000 prize to fund their idea.

Growing to become the next flagship event and bringing together students from all over Belgium is our WhatTheHack.This is Belgium’s most epic student hackathon, gathering 250 students from engineering, business and beyond to bring their ideas to life in 24 hours. Finally, a brand new event, Innov8. This gives the opportunity to find out how organizations use innovation in different sectors to keep their competitive edge. It is all about inspiring new inventors, entrepreneurs and innovators to start working on the future that they envision. Innov8 hosts three simultaneous high-profile debates, each covering innovation in a different industry: finance, healthcare and automotive.

STUDENT STARTUP TRIP

The Student Startup Trip is AFT’s signature activity. Every year we have the honor to bring it to life and to inspire entrepreneurial high potential students. After successful editions in San Francisco and New York, this year’s Student Startup Trip is bound to Singapore! With 30 entrepreneurial spirits AFT will uncover the city’s highly-talented start-up scene. Next to discovering the start-uplandscape, the trip includes visits to an accelerator, educational institute and a mature corporation. Thanks to this, every participant will discover the fundamentals of Singapore’s success formula.

WORKSHOPS & MASTERCLASSES

Next to the events, a variety of workshops is organised. A workshop will give students the opportunity to explore trending topics in the tech-world. Attending a workshop organized by Academics for Technology is an experience that will bring students more knowledge about technological topics.

Robin Van Gansbeke

President