This year, the prestigious Christoffel Plantin Prize, went to Christophe Cox, APOPO’s CEO.
The Christoffel Plantin Prize is an annual prize awarded to a Belgian who contributes to the prestige of Belgium abroad. Members of the Christoffel Plantin Fund chose Christophe, as Laureate this year in the category of Social Entrepreneurship.
The Prize was created in the late 60s in honor of Christophe Plantin, a French Renaissance humanist, book printer, and publisher who lived in Antwerp. The prize is awarded to Belgians living abroad for their special achievements in Science, Social Entrepreneurship, or Culture with the goal of promoting Belgium’s influence around the world. Each domain is awarded the prize in turn, every three years, i.e. 2022 for Social Entrepreneurship.
It started with some friends who came up with the idea of awarding a prize to a Belgian who contributes to Belgium’s prestige abroad and someone who may not be well known to Belgians back in Belgium. With this prize, they honor that person and give them recognition in their home country. Candidates can only be nominated by Belgian embassies and consulates through their global networks.
Social Entrepreneurship
Christophe has been with APOPO since the very start in 1997, and has been serving the organization as CEO since 2008. He was born and raised in Nieuwerkerken, Belgium and studied Product Development at the University of Antwerp, and Development co-operation at the University of Gent.
On the evening of October 26th, in Antwerp, Christophe was officially presented the medal and the fund dedicated the evening to highlighting APOPO’s achievements and the man at the helm. The event took place in the recently renovated historic City Hall of Antwerp.
Mitigating Climate Change
“This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of all of the APOPO teams and programs and the outstanding work you are all doing. Thank you! The 25,000 Euro prize will be invested into our HeroTREEs project with a special focus on promoting syntropic farming through establishing Food Forests in and around our global offices as well as for the communities previously affected by landmines”
Top: Christophe Cox pictured with Mr. Guy van Doosselaere, Chairman of the Christoffel Plantin Fund, Dr. Cathy Berx, Governor of the Province of Antwerp and Erica Caluwaerts, Alderwomen of Economy and Innovation (Images: Fonds Christoffel Plantin)
