Pieter Ballon

Professor Pieter Ballon is Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences, director of imec-SMIT and Vice-Rector of Research at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is also co-founder of the European Network of Living Labs and of the Hannah Arendt Institute.

Prof. Ballon holds a PhD in Communication Sciences and an MA in Modern History. He is the co-founder of the European Network of Living Labs, the Open Agile Smart Cities network and the Hannah Arendt Institute. From 2017 to 2021, he was the VUB Academic Chair on Smart Cities.

His expertise lies in Digital Platforms, Business Model Innovation and Smart Cities, on the subject of which he has a.o. published the popular book “Smart Cities : hoe technologie onze steden leefbaar houdt en slimmer maakt”.