Raf holds a Masters Degree of Applied Engineering in Electronics and is involved in strategic e-Government projects for local and regional governments since 2002. As an advisor e-government strategy for the regional government administration of Flanders in Belgium, Raf tries to implement a more rational, interoperable e-government , promoting open data, open standards and open processes. Raf takes, in close collaboration with the European Commission, the lead in the development of a generic data standard for government administrations in Flanders (OSLO – Open Standards for Linked Organisations), including modelling of Mobility as a Service. Raf is also involved in the development of a citizens portal in the region of Flanders, in Belgium. The portal gives citizens insights into their personal information kept by the government and allows them to give feedback.
He is a PhD student at Ghent University, active in research into the potential of interoperability in the public sector using Semantic Web concepts, technologies and applications Research from a technical, semantic, organisational, legal and political point of view. Raf is also active in the in the Open Data community, advocating Open Data as a member of the board of Open Knowledge Belgium.
Since 2018 Raf is Streamlining processes in the region of Flanders in Belgium by putting citizens in control of their personal data using Solid as an interoperability facilitator and MyData as a policy framework.