Welcome to the IEEE Benelux Section, representing the world's largest technical professional society for Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, comprises more than 360,000 members who conduct and participate in its activities in 150 countries. The Benelux Section, with more than 3000 members, has several local Chapters of IEEE Societies, organizes and supports local events, has liaisons with local professional societies, and much more.

Please use the links at the left to navigate this website, and find out more about the Benelux Section, its activities, and how to join.

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Latest News

December 2011 - Outstanding student branch counselor award for Joos Vandewalle

 
Professor Joos Vandewalle has been awarded the "2011 Outstanding Student Branch Counselor Award". Professor Vandewalle is the counselor of the KU Leuven branch.
 

December 2011 - Fellow Class of 2012

 
This year the Benelux section has proven once again that we have an outstanding technical society: 3 of our senior members have been granted the grade of IEEE fellow! Congratulations to the new IEEE Fellows of the Benelux Section:

• Geert Leus - Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
  for contributions to signal processing for communications
• Dominique Marcelle Marie-Paul Schreurs - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  for contributions to nonlinear vectorial measurement-based experimental design and modeling
• Rudy M. Lauwereins - IMEC, Leuven, Belgium
  for contributions to data flow models in real-time prototyping

The complete list of all new fellows can be found here.
Contact us us and/or our membership elevation officer prof. Martin Bastiaans if you know a potential candidate for IEEE fellow. Fellows can be nominated in one of the following four categories: application Engineer/Practitioner, Educator, Research Engineer/Scientist, Technical Leader. Not only professors and researchers are potential candidates!
 
The deadline for Fellow nominations is 1 March 2012.
 

New IEEE senior members of the Benelux section

 

The following members have been granted the grade of IEEE senior member in 2012.

• Baltus Peter
• Blondel Vincent
• Charbon Edoardo
• Craeye Christophe
• De Keersmaecker Roger
• De Turck Filip
• Desmet Jan
• Ding Jianguo
• Forouzan Amir Reza
• Govoreanu Bogdan
• Guenach Mamoun
• Hamdioui Said
• Houssa Michel
• Huang Li
• Kaymak Uzay
• Kuipers Fernando
• Leroux Paul
• Maes Frederik
• Maes Jochen
• Martinez Alfonso
• Meijerink Arjan
• Peeters Michael
• Pietquin Olivier
• Reynaert Patrick
• Rijmen Vincent
• Ruan Da
• Schomaker Lambert
• Smolders Adrianus
• Snoek Cees
• Van der Aalst Wil
• Van Hamme Hugo
• Verhelst Werner D
• Wambacq Patrick
• Winkler Michael
• Witvliet Benjamin

Congratulations to all new senior members! For more information on becomming a senior member, have a look at our own site or the IEEE official page. If in doubt, mail us .

 

Benelux awarded at the sections congress

 

This year, the IEEE awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the IEEE Sections Congress in San Francisco. During this prestegious event, two Benelux members and a Benelux company were awarded for their contributions to our field.

Ingrid Daubechies (former professor at VUB): Pioneer of Wavelet Transforms, to Receive 2011 IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal

Willy Sansen (Professor KUL): IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award by the Solid State and Circuits Society (SSCS). (this award was presented at a society event, and not the sections congress.

The prestegious IEEE Corporate Innovation Recognition 2011 goes to IMEC

 

Student paper contest 2011

 

At the Eurocon conference which was held in Lisabon in April 2011, the Student Paper Contest finals were held. The winner of this years edition is from our section, from the Leuven student branch:

• Shailesh Kulkarni: "Design of a Ka-band Upconverter for Satellite Communication

 

Prestegious IEEE Corporate Innovation Recognition 2011 goes to IMEC

 

We have been informed that (IMEC is the recipient of the IEEE Corporate Innovation Award. The award will be presented at the sections congress in San Francisco later this year.

 

Update on the IEEE milestone in Leiden

 

For an update on the report of the milestone event, please have a look at the report of the IEEE technical council on superconductivity.

 

February 16, 2011 - Leuven, Belgium (Section)

General assembly and Meet the fellows

On the 16^th of February, the IEEE Benelux section will hold its General Assembly in the Arenberg Castle, in Leuven, Belgium (the route description to the department of electrical engineering, and the castle is on the same campus: Route to the event).

During this meeting, there will be first an introduction on the section, with the election of the new committee. The main part of the meeting is named "meet the fellows". During this part, 3 newly elected fellows will present the evolutions that are ongoing in their field of expertise and the road to come.

The grade of IEEE fellow is a distinction bestowed upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. They are considered to be the leaders in their field. The Benelux section has a total of 89 Fellows (or 2.4 % of its members), which amongst the highest of the Region.

The program is as follows (to be updated, see also the pdf file):

Program:

• 19h30: IEEE Benelux Section General Assembly (members only)
  Georges Gielen -- Section Chair 2009-2010
  Introduction on the Benelux Section & Approval of the Benelux ExCom 2011-2012
• 20h00: Robert Puers - IEEE Fellow 2011, K.U.Leuven
  Implantable Microelectromechanical systems
• ABSTRACT: Medical Microsystem research at ESAT-MICAS - It will be shown how in a period of 30 years, the research topic of MEMS and implantable electronics has evolved from simple FWO projects to an international recognized research centre. The main research drivers were implantable sensing systems for wireless monitoring of patients and animals. Devices developed range from bladder and eye pressure monitoring, over orthopedic implants equipped with sensors for diagnosis and improved therapy, to implanted pumps for assisted blood perfusion in e.g. the liver organ. To this purpose, the technological facilities that enabled several generations of Ms and PhD students to gain hands-on expertise in the field of MEMS design and fabrication, and small sized medical implants had to be established and maintained. The succes of this effort recently evolved in the decision by the University Authorities to support the research with an entirely new lab, that provides a multidisciplinary core facility to enhance existing research, as well as to enable new collaborations, especially in the field of biomedical engineering.
• 20h30: Jean-Paul Linnartz - IEEE Fellow 2011, Eindhoven University of Technology
  Security with noisy data
  • ABSTRACT: Traditional security algorithms require cryptographic keys that are perfectly reproducible. Even the smallest misspelling in a computer password leads to a completely different output after applying a hash function. When biometric features or random process spreads in an IC are used to create a cryptographic key, special preprocessing is needed to ensure exactly reproducible results. Ensuring that this preprocessing does not reveal any information about the secret keys, has been the key breakthrough, which is currently commercialized by two ventures in Eindhoven. It enables the secure and tampersafe storage of secrets in ICs for mass market electronic devices and in smart cards. Also, it allows the secure use of biometrics even in cases where the verifying party (e.g. foreign governments, local shops, bars, operators, public transport) may not fully trustworthy.
• 21h00: Michel Defrise - IEEE Fellow 2011, University Hospital UZ-VUB
  Thoughts on mathematics, electrical engineering, and tomography
  • ABSTRACT: After rapidly zooming down from the electrical engineering research field to three-dimensional tomography with ionizing radiation and related mathematical and algorithmic problems, the talk will focus on recent results, which have modified the understanding of data sufficiency and stability for tomographic image reconstruction from incomplete data. The practical impact of these results will be briefly discussed.
• 21h30: Networking reception
  For those that are interested, there will be the opportunity to gain some information about the procedures to become an IEEE Senior Member or IEEE Fellow and make the necessary contacts during the reception.

Please send an email to to register for the meeting, which is free for members.

 

December 2010 - Fellow Class of 2011

 
This year the Benelux section has proven once again that we have an outstanding technical society: we can welcome 8 new IEEE fellows! Congratulations to the new IEEE Fellows of the Benelux Section:

• Kristin De Meyer - IMEC
  for contributions to exploratory complementary metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors
• Veronique Ferlet-Cavrois - ESA ESTEC
  for contributions to understanding of radiation effects on electronic devices
• Dirk M Klaassen - NXP Semiconductors
  for contributions to semiconductor device modeling and simulation
• Jean-Paul Linnartz - Eindhoven University of Technology
  for leadership in security with noisy data
• Kofi Makinwa - Delft University of Technology
  for the development of precision analog circuits
• Erik Jan Marinissen - IMEC
  for contributions to modular testing of core-based system chips
• Robert Puers - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
  for contributions to implantable microelectromechanical systems
• Wouter Serdijn - Delft University of Technology
  for contributions to integrated circuits for medical devices and wireless communications

The complete list of all new fellows can be found here.
Contact us us and/or our membership elevation officer prof. Jan Biemond if you know a potential candidate for IEEE fellow. Fellows can be nominated in one of the following four categories: application Engineer/Practitioner, Educator, Research Engineer/Scientist, Technical Leader. Not only professors and researchers are potential candidates!
 
The deadline for Fellow nominations is 1 March 2011.
 

 

Martin Bastiaans (TU Eindhoven) ran for Region 8 Director-elect, and WON!

Also Cor Claeys (IMEC) has been elected to be Division 1 director-elect.

 

The IEEE annual elections resulted in an excelent result for the Benelux section. Our past-chair Martin Bastiaans has been elected to be 2011-2012 director-elect of Region 8, and 2012-1013 Region 8 director (Martin's webiste).

At the same time, Cor Claeys (IMEC), IEEE Benelux chairman 1999-2001, has been elected to represent division 1 at the IEEE board of directors as director-elect and director in 2011-2012 and 2013-2014 respectivily.

With this it is clear that the Benelux section provides global leadership within the IEEE.

 

IEEE smart grid world forum, December 2-3, Brussels

 

The IEEE Smart Grid World Forum is a unique series of events that form a global platform for collaboration of stakeholders worldwide to support and promote the evolution of Smart Grid. IEEE Smart Grid World Forum provides the framework for the exchange of ideas and sharing of best practices within the context of multiple approaches to Smart Grid. The forum also provides an opportunity for a realistic and impartial assessment of the current state-of-the-art developments in Smart Grids around the world.

Please visit the website www.ieee-smartgridworld.org for more information and registration.

 

IEEE milestone for superconductivity in Leiden university

 

IEEE Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Each milestone recognizes a significant achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having a large impact. To date, more than seventy-five Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world. The Board of Directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has approved an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of superconductivity in 1911 by Prof. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his collaborators. Milestone plaques will be mounted on a wall near the entrance hall of the Kamerlingh Onnes Building of the Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands, where the discovery was made, and will be dedicated on 8 April 2011, the precise 100^th anniversary of the discovery.

For more information on this milestone, please visit our dedicated webpage.

 

Student paper contest 2010

 

At the Melecon conference which was held in Malta in April 2010, the Student Paper Constest finals were held. The winner of this years edition is from our section, from the Louvain-la-Neuve branch:

• Maxime Taquet: "Feature-based error processing for robust surface registration in computer assisted orthopedic surgery", Catholique Univ Of Louvain (Jt. CAS-004/ED-015) Sb, Benelux Section

The SPC was again very successful for the Benelux section, with 5 out of the 28 papers being from our section (4 branches) and two participating papers in the finals.

The section wants to congratulate all Benelux participants, and in specific Maxime Taquet, the winner of the contest.

 

Petition for Martin Bastiaans for IEEE Region 8 Delegate-Elect/Director-Elect, 2011-2012

 

Dear section members,

Our previous section chair, Martin Bastiaans (http://www.martinbastiaans.org), from Eindhoven university, has started a petition to enter the elections for region 8 director. Next to be very active in the section and as counselor of the student branch of Eindhoven, he has also served as vice-chairman of the region 8 in 2007-2008. He has recently been elevated to the grade of IEEE fellow and is the 2009 recipient of the prestigious MGA Larry K. Wilson Transnational Award for his work for students. He has the experience and the vision needed to lead our region. We would like to ask you to support Martin's effort to get into the elections and sign his petition here or directly at http://www.ieee.org/petition. You can also spread the word to your IEEE colleagues outside the Benelux.

 

November 2009 - Fellow Class of 2010

 
Congratulations to our 4 new IEEE Fellows of the Benelux Section:

• Martin J. Bastiaans - Technical University Eindhoven, The Netherlands,
  for contributions to signal processing for optical signals and systems
• Michel Defrise - Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Brussels, Belgium,
  for contributions to computer tomography
• Rodolphe Sepulchre - Université de Liège - Liège, Belgium,
  for contributions to nonlinear systems
• Edward Gulski - Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands,
  for application of partial discharges to diagnosis of high voltage components

Martin Bastiaans is also the current Benelux past-chair. The complete list of all new fellows can be found here.
Contact us us and/or our membership elevation officer prof. Jan Biemond if you know a potential candidate for IEEE fellow. Fellows can be nominated in one of the following four categories: application Engineer/Practitioner, Educator, Research Engineer/Scientist, Technical Leader. Not only professors and researchers are potential candidates!
 
The deadline for Fellow nominations is 1 March 2010.
 

November 29, 2009 - Martin Bastiaans has been awarded

 
Congratulations to our previous chairman (and the previous region 8 Student Activities Vice-chairman) Martin Bastiaans. He has been awarded the prestegious MGA Larry K. Wilson Transnational Award. The official letter you can find here.
 
Don't forget to to nominate your IEEE colleagues that made a difference. Have a look at the IEEE Awards webpage and the IEEE Scholarships webpage.
 

The Benelux Section and Early IRE/IEEE Activity in Europe

(authors: Jan Biemond and Bruce B. Barrow)

Professor Jan Biemond and Bruce B. Barrow, one of the founding fathers of our section, have authored a paper on the history of the IEEE Benelux section. This paper has been presented at the IEEE conference on the history of technical societies. This conference took place in Philadelphia, USA. The conference is available through IEEE Xplore or directly from our website. The paper shows the interesting history of the section, and marks its role in the internationalization of IEEE roughly 50 years ago.
Summary:
This paper described the establishment of the Benelux Section by the IRE in 1959, covering Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and the establishment of IRE Region 9 in 1962 (now IEEE Region 8) in the context of the political and technical environment in Europe after the Second World War. It reflected on the merger of the IRE and the AIEE into IEEE in 1963, the international policy of the IEEE and the concerns raised by European Societies. Finally, it focused on the 50th anniversary of the Benelux Section on May 12, 2009, its professional highlights, and its celebration event in Antwerp.

New advantage for IEEE members: Dell Discounts
Dell Computers now extends its Employee Purchase Program (EPP) to IEEE Members in Region 8 through the Financial Advantage Program. The EPP enables IEEE Members to purchase Dell Home products (Inspiron Desktop, Notebook, Mini, Studio, XPS, Printers, and Peripherals) at up to 10% discount off regular pricing. Plus, there are promotions and special offers that can be applied in addition to this member discount.
The EPP is currently available in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Log in with your IEEE Web Account to access the member discount code and current promotions on the IEEE Home and Office Services Web page.

 

November 27-28, 2009 - Ghent (GOLD, SSCS)

2^nd IEEE Benelux GOLD weekend: Double workshop on career development/project management and IC design

Location: Ghent University

Contact: Gold Benelux
This event is divided into sessions where both soft skills and technical skills are threated. Both are focussed on those needed by young professionals. In addition there are plenty of social events and networking opportunities to bring those soft skills into practice.
Speakers:
IEEE R8 (EMEA) region professional activities workshop program co-founder Margaretha Eriksson, who is also a private consultant in Sweden will hold 2 interactive workshops called "Get a flying start" and "10 success factors in Project Management".
Researcher Cédric Mélange (UGent) will talk about Burst-mode IC design for next-generation optical access. A second talk on IC design will be given by Pravesh Kumar (ASML)"
There will be a reception, where we will welcome new graduates of Benelux section as a part of the IEEE STEP program and social activities such as city tour of Ghent.
For more information and registration: IEEE SB Gent GOLD webpage.

 

May 29, 2009 - Eindhoven (CEDA - ES)

Official inauguration IEEE Benelux CEDA chapter on embedded systems
The IEEE Benelux Section is proud to announce the establishment of a new (CEDA) chapter on Embedded systems, chair Prof. Dr. Ed F. Deprettere, Leiden University, vice-chair Prof. Dr. Koen De Bosschere, Gent University.
You are cordially invited to participate in the offical launch and take off of this new chapter, which is the first CEDA chapter worldwide.

Venue and timing:

date:	Friday, May 29, 2009
time:	02:00 p.m. - 06:00 p.m.
venue:	Academisch Genootschap (Academic Society)
	Parklaan 93
	5613 BC Eindhoven

The full program and invitation can be found on the designated website

 

May 20 2009 - St. Petersburg, Russia
Benelux students win 1^st and 3^rd prize in the Student Paper Contest

 
At the oral finals of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest, which was held during Eurocon 2009, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ralph Hermans (TUe) won the first prize with his paper "Low-complexity model predictive control of electromagnetic actuators", and Jef Beerten (KUL) the third prize with his paper "Comparison of three-level torque hysteresis controllers for Direct Torque Control". For more information, see the SPC web site.

May 13, 2009 - Antwerp (Benelux section)

50^th anniversary of IEEE Benelux section: read more on this page.

Also read the presidents letter to the IEEE Benelux members: Letter from IEEE president John Vig.

April 25-26, 2009 - Venice (Benelux section)

Benelux section recognised at Region 8 meeting
During the IEEE region 8 meeting in Venice, Italy, the Benelux section was recognised for their 50^th anniversary. The Benelux section is together with Italy the oldest European section of IEEE and the 5^th largest section within region 8 (after UKRI, Germany, Italy and Spain).
The official date of the 50^th anniversary is May 13, 2009.

Benelux representative Dirk Van Hertem (section secretary) receiving the official IEEE banner from IEEE president John Vig. (From left to right: John Vig, IEEE president; Dirk Van Hertem, Benelux secretary; Jozef Modelski, IEEE region 8 director; Silvano Donati, Italy section chair)

 

April 25-26, 2009 - Venice (CEDA - ES)

Benelux section member Adrian Pais (Nl) gets prestegious MGA award at Region 8 meeting Adrian Pais, Benelux Section, received the prestegious MGA award at the region 8 meeting in

“For extraordinary leadership and valuable contributions to the development of the IEEE GOLDRush newsletter.”

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