Wim Vanhaverbeke
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
FOR STRATEGIC RENEWAL
Build and scale through AI, Platforms and Ecosystem innovation
Milan, April 22-24, 2026
Anke Stakenborg,
Strategic advisor on Digital Transformation & Innovation of the Commissioner General of the Federal Police
"A big thank you to Wim Vanhaverbeke for this interesting course and the many practical insights. I can recommend it to anyone who wants to focus on digital transformation within their company, especially at the strategic management level."
Testimonials
Frank Konopka,
Principal Key Expert for Digital Business Model & Operations, Siemens Healthineers
"Wim has a very broad practical knowledge. This combined with his vivid way of explaining, makes it easy for participants to get their arms around the complex topic of digital strategy and relate it to their own challenges. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.."
Frédéric Baervoets,
Manager of Innovation lab Nido, Belgian Federal Government
“This workshop was triggering so many ideas to get started in my own organization. This way of explaining things is very accessible and inspiring.”
Unlock the power of digital strategy and drive transformative change in your organization.
Why participating?
Digital transformation has become a strategic imperative rather than a discretionary choice. Organizations are confronted with rapidly evolving digital technologies—such as AI, data analytics, IoT, and platform technologies—that fundamentally reshape business models, value creation, and the organization of markets and public services. Navigating this complexity requires more than awareness of technologies; it demands strategic insight into where to start, how to sequence initiatives, and how to mobilize internal and external actors.
This executive workshop equips senior leaders with a clear strategic framework to understand and steer digital transformation. It focuses on business model innovation, ecosystem orchestration, and the managerial use of AI and data, rather than on technical implementation. No prior expertise in data science or AI is required. While applicable across sectors, the workshop pays particular attention to B2B contexts, where digital transformation is often slower, more complex, and highly dependent on platforms, partnerships, and ecosystem coordination.
For whom?
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Executives, entrepreneurs and senior professionals, shaping strategy, transformation in their organization
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Leaders seeking to understand how digital technologies platforms and ecosystems reshape industries
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Leaders who want to master how strategic management must evolve to drive digital transformation
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The workshop is recommended for managers both in the private as well as in public organizations
Added value for you and your organisation
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Deep Understanding of Digital Technologies: Gain insights into how cutting-edge technologies such as AI, IoT, and social media can be leveraged to enhance your business operations, increase customer satisfaction, and drive growth.
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Strategic Alignment: Learn to identify and prioritize digital initiatives that align with your organisation’s goals, ensuring that your digital strategy supports your broader objectives.
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Innovation Ecosystems for Competitiveness: Understand the necessity of working within innovation ecosystems to stay competitive, leveraging collaboration and partnerships to create new value and sustainable growth.
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Focus on B2B Contexts: Develop strategies specifically tailored for B2B industries, where digital transformation can lead to significant shifts in business models and service delivery.
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Practical Applications: Through case studies and interactive sessions, you will gain hands-on experience in applying digital strategy concepts, enabling you to implement changes effectively within your own organisation or public service.
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Follow-up on digital transformation projects in your company. After the workshop you have the option to get feedback on your digital strategy and transformation projects.
Program design
This program brings theory to life through a combination of case studies, practical examples, and interactive sessions. You will gain deep insights into digital strategy and transformation.
There are 6 (half-day) modules and each one is designed to build on the previous one, providing a comprehensive understanding of how digital technologies impact organizations and how to lead successful digital transformations.
Additionally, we will invite a guest guest speaker during the last day to illustrate how digital strategy and transformation work in practice.
1. Introduction to digital strategy and Transformation
2. Business Modeling and Digital Transformation: Digitally enabled value creation, capture and delivery
Digital strategy examines how emerging digital technologies are fundamentally reshaping competitive landscapes, enabling organizations to create and capture value in ways that were previously impossible. It explores how innovations such as AI, data analytics, platforms, and connected technologies underpin new business models and strategic options. This introduction clarifies the strategic implications of digitalization, illustrating how firms can harness digital forces not just to improve operations but to redefine their value propositions, generate new revenue sources, and sustain competitive advantage in an increasingly dynamic environment.
Digital strategy and AI-driven data analytics do not merely optimize existing activities; they redefine the logic of the business model itself. By embedding intelligence into products, services, and interactions, firms shift from selling outputs to orchestrating outcomes, from episodic transactions to continuous value creation. Data becomes a strategic asset that enables new forms of value capture, reshapes cost and revenue structures, and reconfigures how value is delivered across ecosystems. This transformation goes far beyond automating tasks: it fundamentally changes what the firm offers, how it competes, and where strategic control resides. For legacy companies, however, twisting entrenched business models into digitally enabled ones is a demanding journey, constrained by existing assets, routines, incentives, and power structures.
3. Profiting from digital platforms and ecosystems
Digital strategies thrive on the active engagement of diverse stakeholders. At the core of modern business strategy lie platforms and innovation ecosystems, which unlock new opportunities for growth and drive transformative innovation. In this module, you will learn how to craft platform strategies that generate powerful network effects and how to orchestrate ecosystems involving various partners. This approach will enable you to build new business ventures and fundamentally redefine your organization’s competitive advantage.
5. How to use AI for impact
AI delivers its greatest performance impact not by making existing tasks faster or cheaper, but by changing the game itself. A strategy that treats AI primarily as an automation tool merely optimizes the past. High-impact AI strategy starts by questioning which workflows, coordination mechanisms, and organizational layers lose their rationale once AI removes core constraints such as information asymmetries, delays, or scale limitations.
In this sense, AI is not a productivity tool but a system technology. It reshapes how work is organized, how decisions are made, and how value is created and captured. Maximum performance gains emerge when organizations redesign processes end-to-end, redistribute decision rights, and enable new forms of coordination. Strategic advantage comes from not playing the old game better, but from designing a different game altogether.
4. Leading digital strategy & transformation
In this module, the focus shifts to leadership. What does it take to lead the design and implementation of a digital strategy within their organization? The module will cover essential leadership skills for driving digital transformation, including how to foster a digital mindset, inspire teams, measuring change and navigate the challenges of change management. Leaders will leave equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to guide their organizations through the complexities of digital transformation and ensure long-term success.
6. Implementing digital transformation
Implementing digital transformation is less about technology deployment and more about organizational and ecosystem change. It requires aligning strategy, structure, processes, and incentives while overcoming legacy systems, cultural inertia, and entrenched power relations. As value creation increasingly spans firm boundaries, success also depends on selecting, coordinating, and governing partners across digital ecosystems. This raises fundamental managerial questions: Where should management start? Which initiatives come first, and which can wait? What capabilities must be built internally, and which should be accessed through partners? Digital transformation thus becomes an ongoing process of prioritization, learning, and strategic reconfiguration rather than a one-off implementation effort.
Meet your faculty
Wim Vanhaverbeke is Professor of Digital Strategy and Transformation at the University of Antwerp. His research explores how digital strategies and innovation ecosystems reshape industries, with a focus on healthcare, agriculture, and energy. He is widely recognized for advancing the fields of digital transformation, open innovation, and ecosystem management.
He holds / has held visiting professorships at leading universities worldwide, including the National University of Singapore, and currently at Zhejiang University (China), ESADE Business School (Spain), and Politecnico di Milano GSoM (Italy).
In addition to his academic achievements, is a thought leader who bridges academia and practice. He advises companies and public organizations on ecosystem strategies, digital transformation, and sustainability-oriented innovation. He frequently designs and delivers executive programs for global corporations and teaches in MBA and EMBA programs at institutions such as ESADE and Politecnico di Milano.
Registration & practicalities
Registration
Please, visit the following website for more information and registration
Contact
Get in touch with:
For general inquiries about the workshop. Wim Vanhaverbeke
Location
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Join us at POLIMI GSoM in Milan and take the next step in
your digital leadership journey!
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22-24 April, 2026
