CTO Bart Van der Heijden is translating a lifetime of experience into tangible academic insight

A natural next step in a distinguished career

He says: “I have a satisfying career that I love – I’m Chief Technology Officer at FCR. Then during the pandemic, I started to think – what’s next? I’m now in this great position, how do I push myself even further?

“I became aware of the doctorate programme at Vlerick, KU Leuven and Ghent University and I thought it was very interesting. I thought it would give me a way to develop myself and learn research skills – and then also bring that knowledge back into the business, to fast-forward our thinking.”

Bart applied – and was accepted, initially focusing his research on the concept of using operating models to configure resources. His first paper – a literature review – was showcased at conferences in Amsterdam and Vienna. Gradually, however, he was pulled towards the idea that companies with the right digital strategy could contribute digital resources to collaborate with other companies.

Opening up new business models

Now in his third year of the programme, Bart says: “These days, no organisation works in isolation from other organisations. We are all interconnected. And we have resources and systems that we can share.

“For example, my company publishes Yellow Pages. What if we could we make this information available to other organisations via an API? And what if other organisations could make their resources available in similar ways?

“My third paper, that I’m currently working on, is more about how companies can contribute these digital resources to collaborations. These could be anything from data and APIs, through to software components. Anything, really, that’s available in a modular, programmatic way.”

Understanding innovative collaborations

“I’m looking at the value proposition for organisations providing these kinds of contributions – and at the contractual and non-contractual governance of providing them. I’m also interested in the market strategy and the nature of the collaboration.”

Bart’s research includes a study of two organisations that are collaborating in this way. One is a financial services organisation that needs to open its digital resources to comply with PSD2 regulation. The other is a pharmaceutical company that has developed a diagnostic algorithm. The organisation is collaborating with a start-up to implement the algorithm in its platform.

Bart aims to present this paper at the 58^th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. His aim is for it to provide guidance to organisations that have digital resources and want to see they can contribute to a collaboration.

He says: “I really enjoy taking part in conferences – it’s incredible to be surrounded by such motivated professionals and academics. There are often networking opportunities after the conference too, so you can meet people from diverse sectors and disciplines. Everyone’s eager to collaborate with each other – it’s a really inspiring atmosphere.”

A totally fresh perspective

Bart’s advice to anyone considering the DBA is to get organised, and to involve family in planning time for research. As a dad of three, he gets up early to get his work done – so  he can spend time with his kids afterwards. He’s also put his triathlon training on hold. But, he says, it’s worth it.

He says: “I really like combination of both worlds, being in a business and understanding the daily decision making, firefighting and strategic planning – alongside having the perspective of academia. It allows me to look at challenges and opportunities in a more holistic way.

“I may continue to research in the future – and perhaps teach – at the same time as working in the business world. This leap into research and the DBA has pushed me further and I’m looking forward to the rest of this journey.”

Keen to learn more?

Explore Bart’s research on digital resourcing and collaboration >

Dive into the publications of Bart's supervisors, Professor Stijn Viaene and Professor Amy Van Looy.