Urbain Vandeurzen
Chairman Smile Invest, Honorary Chairman VOKA, Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of the Campaign Board Opening the Future - KU Leuven
"Neurodegenerative diseases affect numerous people worldwide but despite intensive research, effective treatments are still lacking. As a serial entrepreneur, it is my experience that when world-class researchers that are driven by a compelling vision and ambition, get access to sufficient resources and breakthrough technology, they can achieve what seemingly looked impossible. That is why with Mission Lucidity, we want to create the conditions to fundamentally decode dementia."
Luc Van den hove
President & CEO imec
“I strongly believe that there is hope for dementia. Thanks to the advances in nanotechnology we can now measure what hasn’t been measured before. We can now develop groundbreaking tools, that allow us gain a profoundly deeper understanding in the disease than ever before. With Mission Lucidity, we have all the expertise from world-renown partners in hand – biomedical, clinical and nanotechnological - to bring hope for dementia.”
Koenraad Debackere
Managing Director KU Leuven
“What makes humans unique? Everyone investigating that question cannot ignore the human brain, the way it developed and functions. We understand what others think given our knowledge of the world. We understand what others cannot know. That lucidity defines us. Unfortunately, it can also fail us. That is why we must decode dementia. To safeguard or give back the lucidity that uniquely defines us.”
Wim Robberecht
Chief Executive Officer UZ Leuven
“In the next decades, we will be confronted with a tsunami of chronic illnesses due to aging of the population. Mental disorders are responsible for the largest portion of these chronic diseases, with dementia posing the greatest challenge. That is why it must be decoded, to give people back what is their most human characteristic: their lucidity.”
Jo Bury
Managing Director VIB
“Although our understanding of dementia has increased tremendously in the last two decades and despite all the efforts to find new drugs, there is still no cure. The right way forward is a cross-disciplinary initiative that combines the expertise of basic science with disruptive technologies and accelerates translation to patients.”