Rik Pepermans, Founder at Rik Pepermans Consulting
Rik Pepermans recently established Rik Pepermans Consulting to guide R&D organisations in their digital transformation. He assists his customers in defining their digital ambition, evaluates their current digital maturity, facilitates creating a roadmap to meet their ambition, and supports its implementation.
Rik got a degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in chemistry. He enjoyed the synthesis lab and advanced NMR, but modelling of molecules got him really excited: ”You don’t understand what you cannot simulate.” He started teaching molecular modelling just before he switched to Unilever R&D as my main job but kept teaching for 20 more years to share his vision with a next generation.
After 20 years as a researcher and R&D manager, Rik made a career switch to IT manager for R&D, driven by the vision of a digitised research function.
His perseverance as a matchmaker between R&D and IT earned him the nickname “R&D IT Evangelist”.
In the last decade, his combined experience in R&D and IT gave him the opportunity to co-shape the digital transformation of Unilever R&D. Now he founded his own company to catalyse the digital transformation of other R&D organisations.
Rik is also part of the Advisory board of the Paperless Lab Academy and contributes with articles:
"FOOD INNOVATION GOES DIGITAL"
OVERVIEW
Let's have a look at the food economy! It is bigger and more diverse than you probably assume. Moreover, there is more innovation for the food economy happening than the statistics suggest, but it´s not always traditional science.
Chemistry is a good example of the changing role of sciences in food R&D. As a consequence, an Electronic Lab Notebook, #ELN, is still a good start to digitalise a food lab, but must be fit for the industry.
The focus on fast output of the food industry as an FMCG ( Fast Moving Consumer Goods ) requires more than to digitise the paper-based processes. The consequences of a measurement have to propagate to the decisions makers, swift and error-free. Ultimately, computer simulations replace making and evaluating trial products in the lab to reach the required speed of innovation.
OBJECTIVES
- Learn about the food economy and its innovation
- Understand how business needs drive the digital transformation of foods labs
- Get inspired by the speed and efficiency of innovation in the foods industry as an FMCG
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
- Executives and managers in food industries responsible for the digital transformation of R&D
- Executives and managers responsible for the digital transformation of R&D in any industries willing to learn about speed from FMCG
- Pre-sales and salespeople from vendors of digital tools for R&D targeting food industries
- Anybody that dares to be challenged in their vision on the digital aspects of R&D
DELIVERABLE
Online presentation and Q&A session with presenter
Access to recorded session