Silicon Valley Track
Regional AI Track
Who We Are
​Your Solution to Make Sensory Science Simple
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Since 2000s, Ajinomatrix has been stuyding how to make users’ lives easier by offering a wide range of services through an extensive open source platform. We believe that there’s a fast solution to everything — and with industry experts committed to simplifying the user experience, Ajinomatrix guarantees life changing results that last.
What started off as an App to tackle one specific industry, has turned into an automated and intricate development that is managing to make a breakthrough in the industry.
Start your journey with us and simplify your life today!
Our Team
François Wayenberg
Founder & CEO
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Several years in a top level world second largest Japanese trading company in food R&D, initiating the present project at research level, 20 years ago. Work with top of the line projects, winning world-level awards including from UNESCO, experience working with NASA and advanced experimental projects in Israel related to defense and it’s future organization. Author of 24 books since 2017, poet and cinematograph. Inventor and serial entrepreneur with successful track record as an economist, Founder institute graduate, and industrial collaborator at the polytechnics faculty at the AI lab of the university of Brussels.
Joel Bellenson
CPO & VP of Research
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30 years of executive experience in bioinformatics and laboratory & factory automation serving the pharmaceutical and agricultural product discovery sectors. Raised over $100 million from leadingVC’s and strategic partners.
CEO & Co-founder, DoubleTwist, first to annotate the Human Genome.
Merck Pharmaceuticals acquired Pangea Systems/DoubleTwist.
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CEO & Chief Scientist, DigiScents, Discovered the genes for our sense of smell. Developed the first digital Scent Synthesizer.
CEO, AI Drug Discovery company. Took public. Using publicly available data, discovered drugs against tropical parasites.
Inventor, Founder and Manager of the DNA Core Facility, Stanford University Medical Center and Laboratory Manager at the Carnegie Institute.
Alain Verstraeten
Project Management
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>30 years of experience leading several major projects (budgets of 5 to 30M$), among large companies such as the City of Montreal, TD Bank, National Bank of Canada, Bell Canada and Desjardins.
Sarah Lemaire
Ethics Manager
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Graduated from the Free University of Brussels in International Relations and Religious and Secular Sciences in 2016. Committed, dreamy, and sensitive, she fights for tomorrow’s world respecting our humanity and our connection to nature.
We are in the 21st century and artificial intelligence is a promise of liberation from modern servitude. Like every invention, it can be used for better or for worse. It is up to us to draw up ethical and moral codes at the heart of technological agency so that our power is as fair as possible.
Shan Lu
Business Developer Japan & Global F&F
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Over 35 years of experience in creation, application and sales of flavors and functional food ingredients for food, beverage, and supplement industry, in the roles of managing technical, marketing and sales resources.
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Also held positions as Global Account Manager looking after a large multinational beverage account and a confectionary account.
Work experience include IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances) and DSM.
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Work locations:
IFF: Union Beach NJ, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, UK, New York, Tokyo
DSM: Tokyo Office, reporting to DSM Delft Office, Netherlands
Vincent Leurs
Data Scientist and AI Backend Developer
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With a decade of hands-on experience at the crossroads of data science, machine-learning engineering and food-tech R&D, Vincent helms Ajinomatrix’s predictive-analytics stack and cloud architecture. He designs and maintains the pipelines that turn raw sensor streams—GC-MS chromatograms, e-nose signals, tasting-panel scores—into the real-time insights powering Sensory OS, FEELLM and FlavorGraph. Vincent’s expertise spans scalable graph databases, deep-learning model ops (PyTorch, Django) and edge inference, enabling him to translate cutting-edge research into production-grade micro-services our clients rely on every day. Prior to Ajinomatrix he contributed to open-source tooling for chemical-structure embeddings. When he isn’t optimising GPUs, you’ll find him roasting single-origin coffee and profiling its aroma curve with our own platform—because data tastes best when you can drink it.