Dr. Muriel Desaeger is currently acting as Technical Head at the R&D center of Toyota Motor Europe. She is leading the Division in charge of Technical Planning and, test upcoming key technologies.
The division is navigating Toyota’s Research & Innovation, deliver European originated solutions using EU knowhow, networks & anticipation of trends.
Scope where the division is acting is Big Data, Connected cars, Mobility and Decarbonisation. Recommendations and implementation plans are managed taking into account R&D potentials, market status and customer viewpoints.
She has 27 year experience with Toyota and before acting in the current position she was General Manager of New Business Strategy, Advanced Technology Divisions and Material Engineering Division.
In these positions, she developed several contacts with the European Commission, Automotive & Telecoms suppliers and several Universities. Key focus point has always been to enhance the complementarities between European and Japanese know-how.
She is graduated as Material Science Engineer of the University of Louvain-la-Neuve and got her PhD in the field of Composite Materials at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)

Toyota first began selling cars in Europe under an official distributor agreement in 1963. Since then, the company has matured into the leading Japanese car manufacturer in this highly competitive market. Toyota directly and indirectly employs around 94,000 people in Europe and has invested over EUR 9 billion since 1990. Toyota’s operations in Europe are supported by a network of 30 National Marketing and Sales Companies across 53 countries, a total of around 3,000 sales outlets, and nine manufacturing plants.