Another Innov8rs conference (Berlin, Sept. 2025)

Just back from the Innov8rs.co conference in Berlin, I am left with the feeling that innovation professionals do matter more than ever. It might sound obvious, but in an era where new technologies appear every week and buzzwords dominate our feeds, the role of the people who dedicate their time to making sense of all this is often overlooked. At Innov8rs, I could see again how much thinking, framing, and translating is required to bring new ideas into organisations.

AI was everywhere, as expected. Yet the conversations were not univocal. Some teams embrace GenAI as a new companion in their daily practice; others remain cautious, pointing out its blind spots, biases, or the risk of reducing innovation to pattern-matching and predictive tasks. What struck me is that most of us share the same mixed feelings: curiosity for its potential, skepticism about the shortcuts it suggests, and a deep awareness that true innovation cannot be automated away.

The real takeaway for me is that innovation work remains a profoundly human activity. It requires trust, context, and judgement. Technology can help us, but it cannot replace the nuanced role of those who scout (that's the Novable way!), test, connect, and translate between worlds. In Berlin, I saw a community that takes this responsibility seriously and refuses to be dazzled or replaced by the next shiny object. And that is precisely why this community matters.

I had the pleasure to host an Open Innovation Challenge Hot Seat Calls, where three corporate innovators submitted their current challenges with startup collaboration to an enthusiastic audience. I also co-moderated a workshop on “AI is the new BFF of your Innovation Teams”.