AI learning journey to Paris 2026: From insight to impact
Insights and inspiration from two days with AI pioneers and innovators in the French capital
Why we went to Paris
To better understand how rapid advances in AI are transforming organisations, a delegation of leaders and founders from the Netherlands participated in a two-day programme in Paris, immersing top executives in the city’s vibrant AI ecosystem.
The goal was to engage directly with leading AI pioneers, including startups, established companies, and research institutions. Here is an overview of the key ideas and takeaways that emerged from that programme.
Understanding AI’s transformative power
Day 1: Building strategic clarity and leadership foundations
Opening the day, Arthur de Wilde set the stage for our exploration of AI's transformative potential and the strategic foundations needed to harness it effectively.
Focusing on the importance of leadership and strategy, Jorg Schalekamp explained that scaling AI beyond experiments requires a clear, integrated strategy that links use cases to measurable business value. As it touches so many dimensions (strategy, organisation, risk, technology, ecosystems), AI should be owned at the board level. Organisations need an operating model and governance that balance autonomy with central coordination to ensure consistency, risk control and reuse. People, culture and capability building are as important as technology; invest in skills, change management and multidisciplinary teams to capture value.
"Scaling AI beyond experiments requires a clear, integrated strategy that links use cases to measurable business value."
During our interactive session on "How to operate & scale," we gathered wisdom from the crowd, exploring practical approaches to implementing AI at scale across organisations.
Naser Bakhshi, a partner with Deloitte Netherlands, explained why scaling AI should be treated as an enterprise-wide transformation, not a simple IT project. The goal is to move beyond isolated pilots and create scalable platforms to lead a sustained movement; from moment to movement.
We also had the opportunity to explore innovation firsthand with a tour of Station F, Europe's largest startup campus, followed by lunch to reflect on the morning's insights.
In our hands-on workshop "Build your own," facilitated by Kim Lijding and Pravesha Ramsundersingh, participants had the chance to experience AI capabilities directly and understand how to apply them in their own contexts.
We were excited to welcome Mariia Zameshina from Hexagone AI, a promising startup working at the intersection of AI innovation and practical application. She shared insights into how emerging AI ventures are approaching the challenges and opportunities in the market.
As the day concluded, we reflected on the key themes and prepared for the next day's deep dive into execution and transformation, before enjoying an ultimate Paris experience with dinner at Brasserie des Prés.
"Scaling AI beyond experiments requires a clear, integrated strategy that links use cases to measurable business value. "
Harnessing and scaling AI capabilities
Day 2: Execution, implementation and organisational transformation
Wassili Bertoen opened Day 2 by reflecting on the key insights and themes from Day 1, helping us transition into our focus on execution and implementation.
In an unpredictable AI-driven world, Nathan Furr, Full Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, contended that effective leadership now depends on reframing uncertainty as an opportunity. He called on leaders to combine strategic vision with organisational change and a disciplined experimentation engine, while prioritising the development of cognitive and emotional skills that enable people to act, adapt and find upside in uncertainty.
We continued our exploration of "How to operate & scale" with another interactive session, gathering further wisdom from the crowd on practical implementation strategies and lessons learned.
We spoke about the emerging field of Physical AI with Albert Maas from Avular, exploring how AI is moving beyond digital applications into the physical world and what this means for organisations and their operations.
Over lunch, we had time to reflect and network, discussing the morning's insights and preparing for the afternoon's sessions.
In our afternoon sessions, we explored the critical topic of Responsible AI. We spoke with August Martens from Mistral AI and Mark Wijnhoven from ASML about the importance of understanding AI's limitations, recognising bias in algorithms, and making responsible choices about how AI is developed and deployed. A key question we explored together: "How might the data I'm using influence the outcome?"
Tom Alstein and Joy Schoenmaker led our discussion on "AI in your organization," helping participants understand how to bring AI adoption into their own business contexts and navigate the organisational changes required.
To help people acquire the necessary skills for an AI-driven future, we heard from Quentin Amaudry, Co-Founder & CEO of Mendo, a Paris-based startup that has developed an upskilling platform. The work-integrated platform is designed to democratise access to AI training, moving away from passive learning to a "learn-by-doing" model that enables people to develop practical AI capabilities.
We then turned our attention to your company strategy, exploring how organisations can develop and implement AI strategies that align with their business objectives and create measurable value.
Finally, Bart Pustjens of Deloitte explained how employing a sovereign cloud can create business value through greater control, as well as help to reduce risks. However, achieving data, technology, and operational sovereignty comes with increased cost and complexity. Bart Pustjens advised organisations to start pragmatically: run governed proofs of concept, prioritise portability and resilience in procurement, and involve the right stakeholders to scale successes.
Key takeaways and next steps
Leadership and vision
- The speed at which value can be generated with AI is astonishing. There are three potential sources of value: productivity gains, enhanced experiences (employees and customers) and capability building.
- AI systems can synthesise an organisation's collective knowledge, breaking down information silos. This forces teams to operate from a shared vision of the future, rather than negotiating based on fragmented views of the present, and focuses leaders on what truly matters.
- The successful enterprise-wide adoption of AI represents a fundamental strategic transformation, not merely a technological upgrade. It demands decisive, top-down leadership to integrate AI explicitly into the core business strategy.
- Leaders need to frame the AI conversation around opportunities and potential, moving beyond fear or risk-aversion. This inspires the organisation and creates momentum. A leader's ability to set a clear vision, establish guardrails, and inspire action is the single most important factor in the success of AI initiatives.
- Success requires a proactive approach to human capital, cultivating a culture of experimentation and developing new core competencies, such as effective prompting, across the workforce.
Execution and capabilities
- Do not treat AI as a standalone IT project. It must be explicitly woven into the fabric of the overall business strategy to guide investment, resource allocation, and priority setting.
- The challenge lies in creating a repeatable, scalable pathway to move successful experiments from isolated proofs of concept into enterprise-wide solutions. That requires robust governance, with clear data provenance to build trust, and commercial models that reflect the new value AI creates.
- In the fast-moving AI landscape, it is sometimes necessary to develop a solution concurrently with selling or deploying it. This requires agile methodologies and a close feedback loop between development teams, clients, and end-users.
- Effective interaction with generative AI is a skill. Champion the development of prompt engineering skills across the workforce, turning practitioners into expert users who can extract maximum value from AI tools.
- Organisations across all industries are grappling with the same fundamental questions about strategy, talent, and governance. There is value in sharing experiences and learning collectively.
