Design Is It – Why CEOs Must Lead the Shift to Design-Led Innovation. My TEDx Flanders Speech

In the most critical time for our economy, Belgium is losing. We are investing heavily in technology, in research, in science—and yet, We are failing to turn it into real-world impact: growth, competitiveness, and prosperity for our society. Our innovation ends up in multinationals. Our breakthroughs become part of someone else's product portfolio. Meanwhile, our own small and medium sized enterprises are paralyzed—overwhelmed by complexity, afraid of technology, frozen in the face of constant change. And here’s the naked truth: no amount of funding or tech transfer will fix that alone. Because what we’re missing isn’t technology—it’s translation. What we’re missing is design.

Design is what breaks through paralysis. Design is what cracks the mould of status quo, compromise, and conservatism. Design is what turns innovation into something usable, valuable, and adopted.

Let me ask you. Who uses AI ? Who understands AI ? Who understand Quantumcomputing ? Who thinks that he will ever be a strong user of quantumcomputing ?

When I first read mid of the nineties the book The Circle of Innovation by the marketing professor and guru Tom Peters, I was five years into my professional career as a product designer and manager. In the book there is a chapter called “Design is the new technology “ and the quote of Peters, “Design is it” stuck in my mind forever. At that time, mid of the nineties, I had landed a job in Los Angeles to lead R&D for a recently acquired company.

The West Coast was buzzing.The internet was exploding.And design firms like IDEO , famously known later for launching design thinking as a process and Frog, the design company that worked with Steve Jobs to build the first Macintosh were helping to shape not just products—but complete new industries.

Every month, my wife and I—both designers—would drive up to San Francisco and Palo Alto to visit several of these initially known as product design studios. We were obsessed with one question: what makes design such a strategic force? 

It wasn’t just what they designed. It was with whom they were speaking. Executives and entrepreneurs that were in need of investors and tried to understand the complex setting of THE technology  of the time, the world wide web.They used the designer’s mindset and toolbox to really get into the core of the technology and new business . This mindset shifted my approach forever. Wow, having impact on strategy and  business as a designer to really think different about new emerging technologies. 

I brought it back to Europe, to Barco, where I started integrating strategic design into industrial systems and control rooms. Not as a designer , but as a strategic marketeer which initially gave me more impact on business. We even brought the team of Tim Brown of IDEO London into our strategic design process in Germany. We played. We disrupted. And our executives ? They were SCHOCKED. Of course—  we were too early. The corporation simply wasn’t ready. Years later, some ideas shaped Barco’s most successful product launches.

But it required years of persistence, proof, and a fundamental shift in how design was perceived. Let’s be honest: design is still misunderstood. Design is not styling. Design is not the final coat of paint. Design is not the department that makes the slide deck look pretty.

·      Design is how we make complexity human.

·      It is how we translate ambition into reality.

·      It is how we align people, technology, and purpose into something that matters.

Strategic design is:

• Asking why, when everyone is rushing into what and how

• Prototyping value, not just efficiency

• Creating systems that adapt, not just products that sell

• Challenging assumptions—yours and mine included

And here’s the hard truth: the design process is messy. It's nonlinear. It’s often frustrating. But it’s exactly the kind of thinking we need when business-as-usual is no longer working.

Let me give you an example. For years at Barco, innovation followed often the supplier roadmaps: more pixels, more brightness, more resolution. Linear. Predictable. Safe. But the development and management team —through the designer’s lens—realized that our customers in control rooms didn’t need more. They needed less ; less noise. Less powerconsumption. Less space. Better contrast. Longevity. Ergonomics. Serviceability.

We had to go against the grain. We made the bold decision to skip several generations of technology upgrades and redesigned the platform from scratch—for example with a completely new aspect ratio of 16:9 instead of the  4:3 at the time very common. We lost some deals. But two years later, we launched the most successful control room display in Barco’s history. It leapfrogged the market—not because of tech specs, but because we designed what mattered.

This is what design does when it’s part of the strategy, not only the styling and usability.

And yet, while other countries are embedding this design mindset across sectors, Belgium is still stuck. Switserland, Sweden ,Finland, Denmark, the Netherland are all in the top 10 of the recent Global Innovation Index. Belgium ? Place 24.

Not because we lack research. Not because we lack engineering talent. But because we fail to translate that knowledge into impact. We are brilliant in the lab—but mediocre in the market. In Belgium,  Design barely makes it into that conversation.

Countries like Denmark, Finland, the UK, and South Korea integrate strategic design into their national innovation agendas.They embed design into their mission-driven programs. They run design-led living labs. They train policymakers and entrepreneurs in design thinking.

Why ?

Because they realise that without design, there is no sustainable innovation. Without design, strategy does not land. 

Dear CEO’s, decision-makers, business leaders:

You don’t need to understand every design method. You don’t need to sketch wireframes or prototype services.

But you must:

• Create a culture that values questions as much as answers

• Trust the messy design process

• Invite designers into strategic conversations

• Invest in design leadership

But that’s not enough.

I challenge you to go one step further: participate.

Don’t delegate design—engage with it. Be curious. Be open. Get involved in design sprints, creative reviews, and user observations. Learn to lead not just by saying and thinking, but by doing and framing.

Too many CEOs demand innovation but treat design like decoration, engineering or development. Break that mindset. Shift from being a “decision-maker” to a creative enabler. Show your designers the business context: the market dynamics, the financial challenges, the long-term vision. Because when designers understand the business context, they’ll surprise you with ideas that bridge the gap between dreams and delivery. That’s how you build teams that think the impossible—and then design the roadmaps to make it happen.

A great design roadmap isn’t just about product launches and deadlines. It’s about insight and foresight. It’s about translating vision into reality—step by step—with purpose and adaptability. This is how we move from incremental innovation to real transformation. From feature updates to future shaping.

Designers bring something rare to the boardroom:

• Empathy in a world driven by data

• Optimism in a time of disruption

• Systemic thinking when everything is siloed

They see the whole and the detail. They connect vision to execution. And they ask the uncomfortable questions that lead to the right answers.

So if there’s one thing you take away today, let it be this:

DESIGN   IS   IT !!!!!

And it’s bloody time we all start acting like it