On January 30th over 100 Belgian digital leaders gathered at the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels to get inspired by 10 short speeches from thought leaders in a variety of fields, not necessarily related to technology.

See the highlight here, and make sure not to miss it next year!

Strikingly, and regardless of the field of expertise, an increasing number of speakers are stressing the importance of understanding how the human brain works, in order to build a more efficient working environment, to understand the impact of technology on society, or to get a grasp of the ethical implications of technological evolution. As many people stated in their evaluation, (re)focussing on the human aspect of their professional activities is high on their agenda. At the annual event, they got fresh ideas and practical advise on how to do this.

• James Bampfield, founder of Quinx, showcased whu the human element is absolutely vital in order to build the organisation of the future (you can see him at work on the 'Organisation of the Future' conference on May 18th, click here for all the info);
• Koen De Leus, chief economist of BNPParibasFortis, explained what it takes for companies to be a winner in the new digital imperative... 'the winner takes all' is the new paradigm;
• Karen Boers, founder of Startup.be, gave some tangible advise on how big corporations can reap the benefit from the work and innovations of startups. It takes a more subtle approach than most would suspect...
• Mona Biegstraaten, founder of DreamIT, explained why doing good is also good for businesses. As a successful entrepreneur she recently launched a non-profit organisation helping companies to do good for the world, and be better companies;
• Geert De Preter, responsible for the relocation of the VRT building, shed his light on which principles guided him in some of the decisions he made when designing a new workplace that will make employees focus on what they do best;
• Luc Hendrikx, CEO of CIONET, made the case for CIO's to build on their skills as leaders, as entrepreneurs, as experts and as individuals, just like successful racing cyclists have to do. Build your own program at CIONEXT, the one-day, high-energy development program for future-proof CIO's!
• Jochanan Eynikel, business philosopher at ETION, explained how the new technological wave will not 'nudge' its users anymore, but will be autonomously make judgments by themselves. But will they ever be able to make moral, ethical judgments as well?
• Yoav Nir, co-founder of Clickshare presented his new book 'Game-changing innovation', in which he explains the what genuine innovation really is about... it's not necessarily what everyone thinks...
• Bjorn Van Reet, CIO at Kinepolis, told the fascinating story of how his business (cinema complexes) has evolved over the past decades, but also explained why and how he got persuaded to use a platform of ethical hackers in order to secure his business;
• Keynote speaker John Porter, CEO of Telenet, told us how he sees the role of his CIO develop around 4 axes, but also how he sees his role as a CEO in supporting his CIO to be successful in her role.

And congratulations to Herman De Prins, CIO of UCB, for winning the CIONET Best Speaker award 2018!

According to the satisfaction survey, 100% of the participants met their expectations at this event! We wish to than all of them, as well as the set of exceptional speakers, for making this a great success!

In case you were not there, the pictures beneath will give you a taste of what you missed, but should not miss next year! In case you were there, this is a good chance to recollect some good memories of this event!

What's next. CIONET Belgium's annual event 2018 in pictures

(foto's by David Legreve)