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Welcome to CIONET Belgium

Realise your ambition! Connect with your local community of digital leaders.

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Upcoming Events

 
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Belgium 28-8-25 Country Members Physical english

20 Years CIONET - CIONET Belgium: Summer Festival

A special celebration marking 20 years of CIONET—two decades of empowering digital leaders and driving innovation in the technology landscape. This exclusive event will bring together our members to reflect on the incredible journey we've shared and look ahead to the future of digital leadership.Featuring keynote presentations from visionary CIOs, industry pioneers, and founding members, we’ll explore how far we’ve come and what lies ahead in the ever-evolving world of technology. Together, we will honour the contributions of our members who have shaped CIONET’s legacy while offering insights into how the community will continue to lead in the years to come.This is more than a celebration—it’s an opportunity to reconnect, reflect, and recharge with your fellow digital leaders. Don't miss this exclusive experience packed with inspiring talks, networking opportunities, and special recognitions that highlight the best of CIONET’s history and future.Let’s celebrate the past, present, and future of the digital community you helped build.

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Belgium 28-8-25 Country Members Physical english

Summer Festival - Advisory Board

A special celebration marking 20 years of CIONET—two decades of empowering digital leaders and driving innovation in the technology landscape. This exclusive event will bring together our members to reflect on the incredible journey we've shared and look ahead to the future of digital leadership. Featuring keynote presentations from visionary CIOs, industry pioneers, and founding members, we’ll explore how far we’ve come and what lies ahead in the ever-evolving world of technology. Together, we will honour the contributions of our members who have shaped CIONET’s legacy while offering insights into how the community will continue to lead in the years to come.

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Belgium 2-9-25 All TRIBERS Virtual english

What Does It Cost to Host an App? ; A practical guide to calculating hosting costs across infra, licenses, and operations

You’ve been asked a simple question: “What does it cost to host this application?” But the answer is anything but simple. The platform sits across multiple data centres. The app spans a few VMs, shares a backup system, uses licensed monitoring, and touches five different teams. Your CMDB should help, but it’s rigid, outdated, or incomplete. And yet, you still need to provide a number, clear, explainable, and grounded in reality.

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Upcoming TRIBE Events

 
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August 5, 2025 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual polish

AI Act – praktyka stosowania na rynku polskim

AI Act – dyrektywa unijna regulująca wiele zasad wykorzystania AI w modelach biznesowych- już obowiązuje na polskim rynki. Ciekawe są prawdziwe i realne przypadki jej stosowania. Spójrzmy na temat od strony regulacyjnej, czyli prawnej. Ale zobaczmy praktykę aktywnej w temacie kancelarii prawnej. Zaprosiliśmy mecenaskę Aleksandrę Maciejewicz z kancelarii Lawmore, która od dłuższego czasu jest niezwykle aktywna i praktykuje w tym temacie. Poznamy podstawę prawną, praktyczne case’y i opis sytuacji oczami prawdziwego praktyka.

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August 6, 2025 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual polish

DORA: wszystko, co chcielibyście wiedzieć, a baliście się zapytać

Michał Kulesza, adwokat, partner w departamencie technologicznym kancelarii Rymarz Zdort Maruta i szef zespołu regulacji ICT, przeprowadzi nas przez kluczowe wątki rozporządzenia i zmierzy się z pytaniami zgłoszonymi przez uczestników. Omówimy zarówno krytyczne aspekty na początku wdrożeń, jak i dostrajanie zmian na poziomie organizacyjnym i strategicznym. Masz konkretny temat, który warto poruszyć? Zgłoś go w trakcie rejestracji. Zamiast czytać między wierszami DORA – porozmawiajmy o tym wprost.

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August 7, 2025 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual polish

Automated Systems Testing

Duże tempo developmentu i dokonywanych zmian wymaga nowej klasy testowania. Jakość systemów obserwowana na produkcji będzie pochodną skuteczności tego procesu. Duże nadzieje wiążemy z platformami wspierającymi testowanie i opartymi na AI. Sesja ta pokaże, gdzie jesteśmy w poszukiwaniu takich rozwiązań i gdzie ewaluuje myślenie szefów testów i ich rozwiązania organizacyjne.

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CIONET Partner Updates

CIONET Partner Updates

Recent Cases

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Ballard Power Systems protects intellectual property and data with Trend Micro

Protects intellectual property and data with Trend Micro

OVERVIEW

In the highly competitive alternative energy industry, Ballard Power Systems stands out as an innovator and global leader. Their fuel cells have powered vehicles over more than 50 million kilometers of roads around the world and are found in buses, trams, trucks, and marine vessels. “As a leader in fuel cell technology, protecting our intellectual property is a top priority. We’re in a constant race with other companies to perfect this technology,” says Adam Brooks, IT Director at Ballard. By partnering with Trend Micro to protect the company’s data and intellectual property (IP), Brooks’ IT team keeps the company’s assets safe so their innovators can focus on developing solutions for a sustainable planet.

 

As a leader in fuel cell technology, protecting our intellectual property is a top priority. We’re in a constant race with other companies to perfect this technology.

Dave Bailey

IT Director, Ballard Power Systems 

 

CHALLENGES

Since fuel cell development is an emerging technology, Ballard must constantly adapt and overcome an ever-changing variety of engineering challenges, so keeping systems running and secure is key. “Protecting our internal environment is important from an IP perspective. For the same reason, we also need to protect our systems and data from ransomware and other types of attacks,” says Brooks.

Ballard’s IT team of 17 is tasked with protecting over 1,000 endpoints across their office, production, and engineering departments. To complicate that task, Ballard’s environment includes older operating systems and PCs that are built into expensive, specialized equipment that can’t be upgraded without going to great expense. Additionally, the engineering department conducts extensive testing—and when their PCs are running those tests, they can’t be shut down or updated. These computers can’t be completely isolated from the rest of the company’s network, leaving Ballard’s systems susceptible to vulnerabilities.

 

Trend Micro endpoint security ensures that we can protect our remote employees. That’s been one less thing we had to worry about. We didn’t even have to think about it when employees went remote. We knew they would be fully protected.

Dave Bailey

Security and Network Administrator, Ballard Power Systems

 
 

WHY TREND

Ballard began using Trend Micro™ Endpoint Security in 2014. As their security challenges changed over the years, Ballard’s leaders upgraded to Trend Micro Apex One and Trend Micro Apex Central to boost their vulnerability protection, especially for those test machines that use older servers and computers and might not be patched on schedule. “Trend Micro’s vulnerability protection helps us mitigate the risks of older machines. Even if there isn’t a patch in place, vulnerability protection, found as part of Trend Micro Apex One, knows that a vulnerability exists and can run protection for it. By protecting those test machines, Trend Micro helps us protect our entire environment,” says Dave Bailey, Security and Network Administrator at Ballard.

 
 

SOLUTION

Trend Micro Apex One uses a blend of advanced threat protection techniques to eliminate security gaps across any user activity and any endpoint. “We particularly like Trend Micro Apex One’s real-time scan, behavioral monitoring, and vulnerability protection,” says Bailey.

The company also uses Trend Micro Apex Central, a web-based console that provides centralized management for Trend Micro products and services at the gateway, mail server, file server, and corporate desktop levels. “With Trend Micro Apex Central, we get one console to manage everything. We use both solutions to produce executive reports, and we use the policy manager in Trend Micro Apex Central to easily push changes out to clients,” says Bailey.

 
 

RESULTS

Ballard Power Systems has had zero security incidents since implementing Trend Micro solutions. “As long as I can remember since we’ve been a Trend Micro customer, we haven’t had a major ransomware incident, virus breakout, or any major security issues,” says Brooks.

“The biggest story is that we don’t have a nightmare story. In the old days, viruses or major upgrades would knock stuff out. Trend Micro made that a thing of the past,” says Bailey.

The strength of the Trend Micro security solutions and the automation those solutions enable means Brooks’ small IT team can easily manage security for the entire company. “There is less demand for help from the support side and we spend less time with customers that need assistance. Things just work in the background without our employees even knowing about it,” says Brooks.

An added benefit is the protection Trend Micro solutions provide for Ballard’s remote workforce. Due to the pandemic, 75% of Ballard employees currently work from home. “Trend Micro endpoint security ensures that we can protect our remote employees. That’s been one less thing we had to worry about. We didn’t even have to think about it when employees went remote. We knew they would be fully protected,” says Bailey.

 
 

WHAT'S NEXT

Going forward, Ballard Power Systems’ leaders have ambitious plans to continue expanding clean fuel initiatives and pushing into markets where they can replace fossil fuels with greener alternatives. The company also plans to build internet-capable devices into their equipment, which will need to be protected.

As they grow, Brooks says he expects Trend Micro to grow with them. “As we upgrade Microsoft® Exchange®, build business continuity systems in the cloud, and add other technologies and capabilities, we plan on securing them all with Trend Micro,” says Brooks.

Partners

CIONET Circles

CIONET Business Circles

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Healthcare Circle

Digital Transformation is redefining the future of health care and health delivery. All stakeholders are convinced that these innovations will create value for patients, healthcare practitioners, hospitals, and governments along the patient pathway. The benefits are starting from prevention and awareness to diagnosis, treatment, short- and long-term follow-up, and ultimately survival. But how do you make sure that your working towards an architecturally sound, secure and interoperable health IT ecosystem for your hospital and avoid implementing a hodgepodge of spot solutions? How does your IT department work together with the other stakeholders, such as the doctors and other healthcare practitioners, Life Sciences companies, Tech companies, regulators and your internal governance and administrative bodies?

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Telenet Business Leadership Circle

The Telenet Business Leadership Circle powered by CIONET, offers a platform where IT executives and thought leaders can meet to inspire each other and share best practices. We want to be a facilitator who helps you optimise the performance of your IT function and your business by embracing the endless opportunities that digital change brings.

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Les Rencontres

Découvrez la dynamique du leadership numérique aux Rencontres de CIONET, le programme francophone exclusif de CIONET pour les leaders numériques en Belgique, rendu possible grâce au soutien et à l'engagement de nos partenaires de programme : Deloitte, Denodo et Red Hat. Rejoignez trois événements inspirants par an à Liège, Namur et en Brabant Wallon, où des CIOs et des experts numériques francophones de premier plan partagent leurs perspectives et expériences sur des thèmes d'affaires et de IT actuels. Laissez-vous inspirer et apprenez des meilleurs du secteur lors de sessions captivantes conçues spécialement pour soutenir et enrichir votre rôle en tant que CIO pair. Ne manquez pas cette opportunité de faire partie d'un réseau exceptionnel d'innovateurs numériques !

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Female Leadership Circle

CIONET is committed to highlighting and celebrating female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, creating a leadership programme that empowers and elevates women within the tech industry. This initiative is dedicated to showcasing the achievements and successes of leading women, fostering an environment where female role models are recognised, and their contributions can ignite progress and inspire the next generation of women in IT. Our mission is to shine the spotlight a little brighter on female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, and to empower each other through this inner network community.

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Check out our latest news

Testimonials

Geert Goethals
Geert Goethals
CIO
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Bahadir Samli
Bahadir Samli
CIO
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Vice President & Head of IT
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Group CIO
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Chief Information Officer
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Vice President IT and CIO Medical Devices EMEA
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pascal pauwels
Pascal Pauwels
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Koen Segers
Managing Director Belgium and Luxembourg
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Thierry Driesens
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Managing Director
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Director General Digital Transformation
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Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
NRB
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Directeur général
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Head Of IT (CIO)
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Chief Digital & Supply Chain Officer at Casa International
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Head of IT European Markets
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Team

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Luc Hendrikx
CEO
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Partner - CCO
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Daniel Eycken
Partner - COO
Hendrik Deckers
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Founder - MD
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Jelte Scheys
Tribes Sales Director Belgium
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Herman Roelandts
Tribe Master
Joseph Antoun
Joseph Antoun
Senior Program Director
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Program Manager
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Shelly Deracourt
Program Manager
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Charlotte Coen
Partner Success Manager
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Ivana Bradvica
Junior Event Manager
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Financial Controller
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Vlera Berisha
Junior Community Manager
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Contact us

Would you like to know more about CIONET Belgium, membership or partnership opportunities? Do you have feedback or any other question? Send us a message!