Johan Hanssens has been Secretary-general of the Department of Economy, Science & Innovation within the Flemish administration since 1 December 2015.
He holds master’s degrees in economics and law from KU Leuven. He started his career in the banking sector. From 2000 to 2015, he was advisor (deputy chief of staff/chief of staff) of different party leaders in Flanders and ministers in the Flemish government. He advocates transformative innovation policy in a ‘quadruple helix’ setting, in which the four key actors – governments, businesses, academics and civil society – work closely together.