How can companies stay innovative and internationally competitive in a rapidly changing global environment?
On 3 September, the Flanders–China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) organized an exclusive visit to Barco’s Innovation & Experience Center in Kortrijk, featuring a keynote by Ms An Steegen, CEO of Barco. Ms An Steegen shared engaging and highly relevant insights into Barco’s global activities and longstanding presence in China. She highlighted the company’s local R&D, manufacturing and supply-chain footprint, and explained how Barco is adapting to a rapidly changing Chinese market—focusing on automation, AI and local innovation. She illustrated how Barco’s technologies visualize the world, from cinema and meetings to control rooms and medical imaging, while the company evolves its business models, embraces software and AI, and continues to differentiate through technology and innovation.
The session was introduced by Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director of the FCCC, who highlighted China’s growing importance as a global innovation economy and the need for Belgian companies to understand and engage with its rapidly evolving innovation ecosystem to remain internationally competitive. She also underlined Barco’s longstanding relationship with China and its role as one of the founding members of the FCCC.
During the Q&A, Mr Domien De Witte, Vice President Sales & Marketing Immersive Experiences at Barco, and Mr Peru Dharanipathy, Senior Vice President Research at Barco, discussed Barco’s growth strategy, partnership approach as well as the importance of flexible and resilient global supply chains in response to tariffs and geopolitical developments. They also addressed local sourcing and strong teams in China, future mobility, and the role of new technologies such as HDR in helping Barco continue to differentiate.
The programme concluded with a guided visit through the impressive Experience Center, where participants discovered how Barco’s technologies are applied across entertainment, enterprise and healthcare. sincere thank you to Barco, one of the founding members of the FCCC, our speakers and all participants!
