Testimonials

Role

Michiel Van Hooreweder worked as a local business developer in Malaysia for Materialise, a pioneering Belgian company operating in the 3D printing industry.

Responsibilities

Michiel’s job consisted of engaging with local 3D printing machine manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Australia, Korea and India region to establish lasting partnerships that would allow Materialise to market its printing software solutions.

The first phase of his job consisted in mapping the market and its needs. During the second phase, he sought to establish partnerships with the local OEM (original equipment manufacturer) companies, a market that has been booming for a couple of years. Towards the end of his project, Michiel had been able to engage in a long-term partnership with some OEMs, thus having
a significant impact on the future sales figures.

How he benefited

Michiel had the opportunity to approach the particularities of the APAC/India/Korea market and gained a good insight into their specific needs, which gave rise to the development of a software platform in Asia.

“Looking back at the challenges of my project, I realise that one of the main concerns was the communication between the local branches and the company’s headquarters in Leuven”. Michiel previously worked in a more traditional industry, so he had to learn how to adapt to a high-tech environment and the high level of complexity of the company’s products and services. This Prince Albert Fund experience opened doors giving him the opportunity to discover a new industry with a promising future.