ARENA 2
Dive into the Arena 2 program and explore a full day dedicated to building AI-ready organizations that deliver real impact. From accelerating innovation and human-centric AI to quantum technology, data strategy, and cyber resilience, discover practical insights and real-world cases showing how technology can strengthen performance while empowering people.
10:00 - 'De AI ready organisatie: van technologie naar structurele meerwaarde'
Pieter De Buysser
Founder NXTGN
Pieter is een expert op het gebied van AI strategie, innovatie en transformatie die jou meeneemt in de strategische impact van AI op organisaties. Hij werpt een realistische blik op hoe organisaties zich kunnen voorbereiden op een toekomst met AI - niet enkel door te blijven experimenteren, maar door een transitie naar AI-ready organisaties. Dat vraagt keuzes in strategie, processen, governance en vooral: talent. Met concrete inzichten en praktijkgerichte bouwstenen biedt Pieter houvast voor leiders die AI de juiste plek willen geven in hun organisatie.
Taal: Nederlands
10:30 - 'Accelerating Innovation through AI'
Pieter Verbeke
Senior Project Leader Digitalisation Umicore
In today's rapidly evolving world, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing exponentially, transforming industries and redefining possibilities. Umicore recognises the immense potential that AI holds to revolutionize our operations, drive innovation, and create unparalleled value. In 2025, they launched the ignAIte program to spark and accelerate the adoption of AI technologies within Umicore, empowering our teams to harness the full spectrum of AI capabilities. This session will provide an honest look at our AI transformation journey: the successes, challenges, and lessons that shaped our approach, and offer a forward-looking perspective on how we see AI evolving within Umicore and our industry.
Language: English
11:00 - 'Van go-live naar echte adoptie: Zo maak je van jouw
SAP- of Salesforce-uitrol een succesverhaal'
Pieter Delaere
Co-founder & CEO dScribe
IT go-live zonder chaos? Leer hoe je adoptiedrempels verlaagt, supporttickets reduceert en onboarding versnelt met korte, herbruikbare gebruikershandleidingen, opgebouwd 10x sneller dan de klassieke knip-en-plak aanpak, en meteen consistent en professioneel. Geen ellenlange schrijfsessies meer, maar documentatie die je razendsnel samenstelt en eenvoudig verspreidt naar je gebruikers. Ideaal voor IT-teams die minder willen uitleggen en meer willen vooruitgaan.
Taal: Nederlands
11:30 - 'Quantum Technology, a game changing coin with two sides'
Jan Sonck
Community Lead Quantum Circle
This session delves into the dual nature of quantum technology. We'll explore the immense opportunities of quantum computing applications, including its transformative potential across various industries. However, we will also address the significant security threats it poses, particularly the future capability of quantum computers to break current cryptographic keys. This urgent challenge necessitates immediate and proactive measures to safeguard our data, critical infrastructures, and networks. Yet this threat also offers opportunities to innovate and enhance data protection, embrace cloud sovereignty, and optimize network resilience. The time to act is now, as preparing for the so-called Q-Day starts today!
Language: English
12:00 - 'Expensive, slow, and only half the picture: Why centralized IT stopped working'
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Lars Veelaert
Co-founder & CEO XFA
Today, anyone works from anywhere, with whatever devices and apps they prefer. Traditional IT models - with networks, managed devices, and central access requests - burden productivity and are increasingly ineffective for cybersecurity. More and more companies are dropping the traditional IT department entirely - a clear sign that the old model has run its course. Lars Veelaert tells the history of the technology that got us here and shares XFA's vision for a future where maximum productivity and complete security go hand in hand: embracing BYOD with privacy-respecting device verification, multi-party authorization where teams grant elevated access together, and AI-driven user protection across every attack vector.
Language: English
12:30 - 13:30 NETWORKING LUNCH
13:30 - 'Securing the Connected Reality: Risks, Attacks, and Resilience'
David Blampain
Expert NIS2 eGOV - ETNIC & Founder / CISO (As a Service) RANGERS IM (Hacking Team & GRC)
From classrooms to hospitals, battlefields to offices, connected devices are rewriting the rules of our world. But every smart device is a potential gateway for cyber threats. Today, we’ll uncover real attacks across education, healthcare, defense, and work, and reveal how to turn risk into resilience. Because in a connected reality, security isn’t optional! It’s the foundation!
Language: English
14:00 - 'Emerging new threats and trends, convergence of new technologies'
Eric Van Cangh
Senior Business Group Leader Digital (AGORIA), Permanent chair of the Focus Group Regulations and standardizations (CS Coalition), Permanent chair of the Focus Group ICS/OT , Board Member (Women4cyber Belgium), Advisory Board member (CyberSec Europe), Ambassador (CO-CYBER)
From classrooms to hospitals, battlefields to offices, connected devices are rewriting the rules of our world. But every smart device is a potential gateway for cyber threats. Today, we’ll uncover real attacks across education, healthcare, defense, and work, and reveal how to turn risk into resilience. Because in a connected reality, security isn’t optional! It’s the foundation!
Language: English
14:30 - 'Human-Centric AI: Empowering rather than replacing the workforce'
Cédric Gilissen
Co-founder & CEO Wonka AI
Contrary to the fear of mass unemployment, AI can be a tool for radical human empowerment if implemented with the right philosophy. Cédric discusses how AI-native talent can be embedded into teams to close skill gaps and automate repetitive "busy work." Raising the floor and ceiling of what is possible
Language: English
15:00 - Turning Telemetry into Intelligence: The AI Shift in CyberSecurity
Bram Fabeck
Founder & CEO Dataforces
Ben Van den Sande
Co-founder & Product Officer Dataforces
Right now, much of the cybersecurity industry is racing to build Agentic SOCs by funneling massive volumes of raw telemetry into general-purpose AI models. Experience shows us that running AI directly on unrefined security metrics, logs, and traces doesn't accelerate incident response. It practically guarantees hallucinations by design and turns security automation into an enormously expensive witch hunt. In this session, Bram Fabeck and Ben Van den Sande introduce a critical architectural pivot: the "Shift-Left Intel Mesh" paradigm. Instead of pushing raw data into large, opaque models, this approach applies deterministic data selection and optimized local models to pre-compute telemetry into high-value, semantic cybersecurity intelligence, before a SOC AI agent ever needs to query it. Discover how a curated "intel mesh" can dramatically reduce SIEM costs, cut retrieval latency to milliseconds, and provide a trusted, scalable foundation for the next-generation SOC.
Language: English
15:30 - TBC topic
TBC speaker
16:00 - Shadow AI Agents in jouw organisatie. Wie heeft de controle?
Maarten Bovée
CEO NTX
Medewerkers installeren vandaag autonome AI agents zonder medeweten van IT — tools die zelfstandig data raadplegen, acties uitvoeren en systemen aanspreken buiten elk corporate beleid om. Maarten Bovée, CEO van NTX, bespreekt waarom shadow AI agents de volgende grote blinde vlek zijn voor CIO's en IT-verantwoordelijken. Hij legt uit hoe agent sprawl, gebrek aan transparantie en ongecontroleerde toegang tot gevoelige data nieuwe risico's creëren die vandaag al spelen in Belgische organisaties.
Taal: Nederlands