Defence Tech Day 2026

Lieutenant General Ludy Schmidt is the Vice Chief of Defence of the Netherlands, a position he has held since October 2024. In this role, he supports the Chief of Defence in directing all branches of the Armed Forces, including Special Operations Command and Cyber Command, and he leads the Defence Staff. He also chairs key steering groups responsible for the modernisation of Defence’s IT infrastructure, HR-related digital systems, and long‑term spatial and real‑estate planning. As Vice Chief of Defence, he serves as a member of the Cyber Security Council, contributing strategic expertise on national cyber resilience.

Schmidt’s career spans more than three decades of operational command, academic leadership, and strategic planning. A graduate of the Royal Military Academy, he served as a cavalry officer in Germany before taking on roles within the 1st Army Corps focused on major organisational restructuring. He later commanded units deployed to Bosnia‑Herzegovina and held several senior positions at the Netherlands Defence Academy, including Head of Military Operational Science and Dean.

Internationally, Schmidt served as Chief of CJ5 Policy and Plans within ISAF Regional Command South in Afghanistan, contributing to campaign planning during a period of intense operational activity. He later held successive leadership roles within the Royal Netherlands Army and the Ministry of Defence, including Director of Plans and Deputy Commander of Materiel and IT Command (COMMIT), where he oversaw the organisation responsible for all military materiel and IT capabilities.

Jeroen van der Vlugt serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence. He is responsible for the Defence strategy and policy on IT, cyber, data science and artificial intelligence (AI). In this role, Jeroen acts as the primary advisor for the information domain to the Secretary of Defence. As CIO, Jeroen is also a member of the Defence executive board reporting directly to the Secretary-General of Defence.

Previously, Jeroen worked as a partner for a strategy consulting firm leading the technology portfolio and was entrepreneur in the field of datascience and innovation. Jeroen holds a master degree in Econometrics (University of Groningen).

Brigadier General Air Force Steven Lauwereys, ir is Chief Organisation for Defence Innovation and Defence Industry at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence in Belgium, where he plays a central role in shaping long-term defence strategy and policy. He brings extensive experience across defence strategy, procurement, and industrial cooperation, with a strong track record of working at the intersection of government, industry, and research.

He is a key figure behind the implementation of Belgium’s Defence, Industry and Research Strategy (DIRS), which aims to strengthen national defence capabilities while fostering innovation and industrial resilience. In this role, he contributes to aligning strategic policy objectives with operational needs and industrial capacity, ensuring coherence across the Belgian defence ecosystem.

Commodore Henk Doorten is Director of Research and Innovation at the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, where he drives transformative projects that link cutting-edge technology with operational defence applications. In this role, he fosters innovation across domains, ensuring that research, advanced technologies, and digital transformation are effectively translated into military capacities.

Previously, he served as Deputy Chief Information Officer and Strategic Advisor for Military Digitization, overseeing cybersecurity, interoperability, data driven operations, information governance under the Defence Readiness Act, and the Cyber Innovation Hub. He commanded Leeuwarden Air Base during the transition from the F-16 to the F-35 and MQ-9, focusing on Initial Operational Capability and certification under Military Aviation Requirements. As F-16 and F-35 Fighter Pilot and Weapons Instructor, he completed multiple operational deployments to the Balkans, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Jordan.

Earlier in his career, he represented the Netherlands within the international F-35 Joint Program Office in Washington DC, where he coordinated Program Management Reviews with senior U.S. government and industry leaders. He also served as Policy Officer at Defence Headquarters, co-responsible for the F-35 program and actively involved in procurement and cost analysis.

Commodore Doorten holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente and a Master’s degree in Military & Defence Studies from the Australian National University. He is also a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College.

Raymond Knops is the Chairman of the Netherlands Industry for Defence and Security (NIDV), a role he has held since April 2023. In this position he leads the Dutch defence‑industrial ecosystem, representing more than 350 companies and organisations across the full breadth of the defence and security sector. He brings to the role extensive experience in defence policy, capability development and civil‑military cooperation.

 Before joining the NIDV, Raymond Knops served for many years as a prominent Member of Parliament for the CDA and held senior government posts including State Secretary and later Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. His political career also included chairing the Dutch parliamentary committees on European Affairs and Defence & Security within the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

 Earlier in his career, he served as an officer in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, after completing the Royal Military Academy. As a reservist Lieutenant Colonel, he was deployed to Iraq in 2004–2005, contributing to CIMIC (civil‑military cooperation) missions. This combination of military, governmental and strategic expertise underpins his current role shaping the future of the Dutch and European defence‑industrial base.

To be announced

Roy Lindelauf is Professor of Data Science at the Netherlands Defense Academy, where he also leads the Data Science Center of Excellence (DSCE) at the Ministry of Defence. He holds an endowed chair in Data Science, Safety, and Security at Tilburg University, where his research unit Data Science, Safety & Security is part of the Department of Intelligent Systems. He is also an expert member of the Global Commission on Responsible AI in the Military Domain (GC REAIM), which recently presented its final report to the UN Security Council.

Roy began his career as an Apache helicopter pilot in the Royal Netherlands Air Force before earning two master’s degrees with distinction in Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mathematics at TU Delft. He went on to complete his PhD at Tilburg University in 2011 with a dissertation on the game- and network-theoretic analysis of covert networks.

For more than fifteen years, he has worked at the intersection of mathematics, data science and AI, and defense, developing methods to model complex security problems. At the Defense Academy, he designed curricula in game theory, network analysis, statistics, data science, and intelligence analysis, while also lecturing widely at universities around the world.

As co-founder of the DSCE, Roy has helped establish it as the Netherlands’ central hub for defense and security research in data science and AI. The center’s portfolio covers drone swarming, AI in cybersecurity, explainable AI, disinformation detection and information operations, and AI-driven decision support systems. He is also active in several international panels on defense applications of AI and data science.

Joost Tuinman is a Lieutenant-Colonel reservist in the Netherlands Army, serving with the Army Special Operations Forces. He is also a strategic advisor and defence professional specialised in unmanned systems, emerging technologies, and the future of warfare. With a background in the military and security domains, he works at the intersection of defence, industry, and innovation, supporting organisations in translating strategic challenges into operational capabilities.

He has extensive experience in defence capability development, drone and sensor ecosystems, and public-private cooperation within the European and NATO defence industrial base. Joost advises companies, governmental organisations and innovation initiatives on topics such as unmanned systems, battlefield transparency, and defence technology strategy.

Alongside his advisory work, he contributes to the broader strategic debate on modern conflict, including lessons from contemporary conflicts such as Ukraine. His work focuses on strengthening European defence capabilities, accelerating the adoption of innovation, and connecting operational military needs with industrial and technological solutions.