Walter De Brouwer
| Walter De Brouwer | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Walter De Brouwer 9 May 1957 Aalst, Belgium |
| Residence | Brussels, Belgium |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Religion | Christian |
| Spouse | Samia Lounis |
| Children | 3 |
Walter De Brouwer ([dəˈbʁʌuəʁ]; born May 9, 1957) is a Belgian futurist, semiotician and internet entrepreneur.
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[edit] Academic
De Brouwer was born in Aalst, Belgium. He earned earned a Masters degree in linguistics from the University of Ghent in 1980 and a PhD in Semiotics from Tilburg University in 2005.[1] He was a lecturer at the University of Antwerp (UFSIA) and an adjunct professor at the International University of Monaco from 2001-2004.[2] He is an Entrepreneur in Residence with the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge since 2004.[3] He sits on the editorial advisory board of the Journal for Chinese Entrepreneurship.[4]
[edit] Publisher
De Brouwer set up Riverland Publications in 1990 to publish personal computer magazines.[5] In 1994, De Brouwer sold his titles to VNU. He then published the cyberpunk magazine Wave, edited by Michel Bauwens and designed by Niels Shoe Meulman. Wave was a cult Belgian avantgarde magazine which joined Boing-Boing and Mondo 2000 as bridge between the underground and the world of the future.[6]
[edit] Internet
In 1996 De Brouwer was one of the founders of PING, later sold to EUnet.[7] In April 1998 the company was sold to Qwest Communications International, which in turn later merged EUnet in with the ill fated KPNQwest.[8]. In 1999, his electronic employment site Jobscape[9] merged with eight similar sites to make up Stepstone. Stepstone went public with a price tag of £365m on the London Stock Exchange.[10] In 2008, De Brouwer set up OLPC Europe, the European branch of One Laptop per Child.[11][12][13]
[edit] Research labs
In 1996, he set up Starlab.[14][15][16] It specialized in blue skies research,[17] deep future research,[18] and BANG (Bits, Atoms, Neurons and Genes) research. Starlab produced generic patents in intelligent clothing,[19] and worked on time travel.[20] One of its spinoffs (spitters.com) was collecting spit for personal genomics typing, what 23andme started doing 6 years later.[21] The laboratory closed during the dot-com bubble in 2001.[22][23]
In 2011 De Brouwer joined the Brain-Computer-Interface company Emotiv, where he became the CEO of Europe.[24] He is a board member of Tau Zero Foundation, formerly known as NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program which recently published the state-of-the-art work The Frontiers of Propulsion.[25] He is also currently the CEO of Scanadu, a company located at the NASA Ames Research Park in California, which plans to develop hand-held health diagnostic devices, similar to the tricorder from Star Trek.[26][27]
[edit] Other activities
De Brouwer is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and served as President of RSA Europe from 2006 to 2008.[28] He is a member of TED, a Founding Member of TEDGlobal, and curator of TEDxBrussels and TEDxKids Brussels. He is a Knight in the Order of Leopold and a member of the Education Board of the Lifeboat Foundation.[29] Since 2009 De Brouwer is the Director of the Founder Institute Brussels.[30] He has guest posted on Quantified Self. [31]
De Brouwer has two children with his current wife and a daughter from a previous marriage.
[edit] Bibliography
- De Brouwer, Walter; Ayris, Stephen (1985). Computer Buzz words : Teacher's guide. Wolters Leuven, ISBN 9030908157
- De Brouwer, Walter (1985). Cybercrud : computer terminology for advanced students of informatics and industrial engineering. Wolters Leuven, ISBN 903090819X
- Vanneste, Alex; Geens D, De Brouwer, Walter (1987). Het Nieuwe Landschap, Wolters Leuven, ISBN 9030908254
- De Brouwer, Walter (2004). Echelon: Three can keep a Secret, if Two of them are Dead. Delaware, ASIN B004J3UHGG
- De Brouwer, Walter (2004). The biology of language: the post-modern deconstruction and denarration of modern and pre-modern grand narratives. Universiteit van Tilburg, ISBN 9789081002219
[edit] References
- ^ De Brouwer, Walter (2004). The biology of language: the post-modern deconstruction and denarration of modern and pre-modern grand narratives. Universiteit van Tilburg, ISBN 9789081002219
- ^ International University of Monaco Faculty: Walter De Brouwer (Adjunct)
- ^ Entrepreneur in Residence Walter De Brouwer via University of Cambridge Judge Business School
- ^ Journal for Chinese Entrepreneurship
- ^ BELGIUM Major Manufacturers Directory. Business Information Agency, ISBN 9781418783488
- ^ http://collectvalue.com/exhibition/WAVE%20THE%20BELGIAN%20CYBERPUNK%20MAG/3125?b=category&mc=BOOKS
- ^ Schroller, Alex; King, Tim (January 4, 2010). Smart ways to improve innovation. European Voice
- ^ http://news.cnet.com/KPN,-Qwest-team-on-European-network/2100-1033_3-218186.html) http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/1948688/qwest-snaps-eunet
- ^ Schroller, Alex; King, Tim (January 4, 2010). Smart ways to improve innovation. European Voice
- ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/stepstone-gets-ipo-price-tag-of-pound365m-725272.html
- ^ Fildes, Jonathan (December 23, 2009). OLPC Unveils slimline tablet PC. BBC News
- ^ Hartley, Adam (May 1, 2010). How OLPC plans to give 30 million kids in Africa a laptop by 2015. TechRadar
- ^ Curtis, Sophie (January 11, 2010). Poor Families to get Government Laptops. eWeek Europe
- ^ Kalia, Kirin (August 9, 2000). Belgium: Europe's Overlooked Diamond-in-the-Rough (Part II). Silicon Alley Daily
- ^ Lane, Frederick S. (2003) The naked employee: how technology is compromising workplace privacy, p. 54. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, ISBN 9780814471494
- ^ Bilefsky, Dan (April 2, 2001). Where the deep future is familiar territory The Financial Times
- ^ Geary, James (November 22, 2000). The Web site that wants your spit. CNN
- ^ Discovery Channel (September 2000). StarLab segment via YouTube
- ^ Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity, and Deathliness’, C. Evans, pg. 276
- ^ D'Amico, Mary Lisbeth (July 2, 2001). Tornado Insider: Lights Out at Starlab Tornado Insider
- ^ http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/11/22/etime.tech/
- ^ Giles, Jim (2001). Utopian dream in tatters as Starlab falls to earth. In D. Butler, Ed. Nature Yearbook of Science and Technology, p. 412 Palgrave Macmillan (2002) ISBN 978-0333971475
- ^ Casonato, Regina; Jones, Nick (2002) How will enterprises achieve a return on investment in knowledge management? Gartner, Inc.
- ^ http://twitter.com/#!/emotiv/statuses/83300043666370560
- ^ http://www.tauzero.aero/site/html/about_us_who.html
- ^ Scanadu Raises $2M: “Check Your Body As Often As Your Email”, Robin Wauters, TechCrunch, November 8th, 2011.
- ^ Scanadu Incorporated, Businsessweek, December 27, 2011.
- ^ Chairman of RSA Europe Fellowship
- ^ Lifeboat Foundation Advisory Board: Dr. Walter De Brouwer
- ^ Director- Walter De Brouwer via Founder Institute Brussels
- ^ Carmichael, Alexandra (February 14, 2011). HIT – Health Internet of Things. Quantified Self
