Nicolas Deruytter is the founder and chief executive of ML6, the Ghent, Belgium, AI engineering firm he started in 2013, a year after finishing his engineering studies at Ghent University (ML6; ML6).
Studying engineering in Ghent
He trained as an engineer at Ghent University, earning a master’s in electromechanical engineering in 2010 and a master’s in industrial engineering and operations research in 2012, and ML6 lists mechatronics among his studies (ML6 leadership; ML6 history). He founded ML6 the following year and has run it ever since (ML6 leadership).
Building ML6
Under him, ML6 grew about tenfold, won four consecutive Deloitte Fast 50 awards, and in 2023 joined the Financial Times list of the 1,000 fastest-growing European companies (ML6 history). It now works from Ghent, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Berlin, and Munich (ML6 history). When ML6 became one of OpenAI’s European services partners in June 2025, he called it “a monumental achievement” and said the firm wanted “to accelerate the adoption of advanced AI across industries” (ML6).
ML6 describes him as someone who works at the meeting point of business, technology, and society, and he speaks on entrepreneurship, innovation, and the practical value of AI (ML6 history). He also sits on the board of Voka, the Flanders Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ML6 history).