The management board of Space Business Innovation Centre (SBIC) Noordwijk announced today that the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gerard Hegemans will be stepping down in September after 5 years in the role.
SBIC Noordwijk successfully manages numerous space business programmes and continues to grow the community of successful space related startups in Noordwijk. Key to SBIC’s remit is the management of the Dutch business incubation centre of the European Space Agency (ESA BIC Noordwijk), working closely with the Netherlands Space Office. Under Gerard’s leadership, SBIC was awarded a new ESA BIC contract as of the start of this year, which runs until the end of 2027.
Gerard comments: “I have thoroughly enjoyed providing business support to the startups incubated at ESA BIC Noordwijk during my 5 years as CEO of SBIC Noordwijk. It has been inspiring to work within such an innovative ecosystem and I wish to thank all those I have met along the way.”
In the interim, the Chief Financial Officer Matthijs den Os will act as CEO. Going forward, business support for the ESA BIC startups will be provided by Jacobo Domingo, the newly appointed Business Development Manager. The whole SBIC team is committed to helping inspire new talent to establish careers as space business entrepreneurs and to playing a key role in creating an even stronger Dutch space startup community.
The board and all within the SBIC space business community share best wishes with Gerard for his retirement.
ABOUT: Space Business Innovation Centre (SBIC) Noordwijk supports entrepreneurs that want to launch or improve a product or service that makes use of space technology. The company provides access to an international network, tools, knowledge and finance. One of SBIC’s key tasks is managing the European Space Agency’s business incubation programme in the Netherlands, ESA BIC Noordwijk, for which there are two selection deadlines per year. Next to that, the team manages several programmes and often works with other space related efforts, like the Netherlands Space Office and NL Space Campus, or helps entrepreneurs from abroad set up their space businesses in the Netherlands. sbicnoordwijk.nl
