Paul Van Der Steen | IDC Officer

Paul V Der Steen, 62, is an independent technology expert and consultant to the Belgian diamond industry. He holds a master's degree in chemical engineering of the University of Antwerp.

He started his career in 1975 as technical manager of the Diamond Grading Department of the Hoge Raad voor Diamant, HRD.

In 1987, he was a founding partner in Diamcad, a pioneer in precision polishing of high quality/high value diamonds. Ten years later, he consequently founded Diamscan, a developer of optimization algorithms for diamond manufacturing and in 2006 established Matrix Diamond Technology, a high-end manufacturing technology developer.

Currently Van Der Steen owns and heads two operations: Van der Steen Diamond Technology, a firm that consults to producers, sightholders as well as HRD Antwerp NV, and Tensor Diamond Technology, a sister company that runs a choice of R & D projects.

Among others, Van Der Steen is Chairman of the board of WTOCD, (Wetenschappelijk en Technisch Onderzoekscentrum voor Diamant), the Scientific and Technical Research center for Diamond. He was and is involved in countless research and diamond technology development and has authored a variety of training courses, books and manuals books for diamond manufacturing and gemological training.

Van Der Steen is married and has four children.