“If you don’t change your mind a lot, you may be wrong a lot.”

At The Next Web 2025 in Amsterdam, Philips Chief Innovation Officer Shez Partovi shared a candid thesis: in a turbulent world, a company’s willingness to rethink—and rethink again—is the single best predictor of whether its innovations will matter. Flanked by leaders from Ferrari, Prosus, and 1infinity Ventures, Partovi consistently returned to a fundamental question: Whose problem are we solving—and are we willing to pivot the moment that answer changes?

At Philips, the majority of research and design capabilities are embedded directly within each business unit, putting innovation closer to where customer signals are captured and financial decisions are made. “Innovation scales better when it lives where the financial accountability lives,” he said.

In parallel, Philips launched the XITE (eXploratory Innovation Teams) program: a platform that enables employees across the company to pitch and explore bold new ideas. These venture-style squads operate in six-week sprints with ring-fenced budgets, allowing them to experiment freely and with minimal red tape.

Partovi’s favorite example came from a partnership with University Medical Center Utrecht. Instead of selling a costly new MRI, Philips built an AI model that tripled the speed of the hospital’s existing scanner. “The best innovations are painkillers, not vitamins,” he reminded the audience. “If we relieve a real ache, adoption takes care of itself.”

He contrasted Philips’ iterative ethos with the “decision-perfection culture” he often encounters in Europe. The antidote, he argued, is to measure teams by learning velocity, not just launch dates: “A fast ‘no’ is cheaper than a slow ‘maybe.’”

Partnerships that multiply impact

Internal agility only goes so far—scaling breakthroughs also depends on choosing the right allies. Partovi described three lenses Philips uses when facing a build-buy-ally decision: how best to gain capabilities.

Design partners – Frontline clinical organizations that stress-test ideas in the real world. The fast-MRI project with UMC Utrecht fits this category: “They gave us the pain point—and the courage to solve it.”

Scale partners – Cloud and AI hyperscalers that amplify reach. Current generative-AI pilots with AWS and OpenAI help Philips “move from prototype to planetary” without rebuilding infrastructure.

Specialist acquisitions – Niche companies whose technologies fill gaps too specific to build internally. Partovi cited Capsule, the vendor-neutral patient data platform Philips acquired in 2021: “We kept its independence intact and simply plugged it into a bigger mission.”

Each lens, he noted, serves as a sanity check: Will this partnership sharpen our view of the customer’s pain—or blur it?

Four views, one urgency

The rest of the panel expanded the story, showing how vastly different industries grapple with the same need for fast, human-centered iteration.

Monika Tomczak-Gorlikowska, Prosus – Risk in jet-ski format
Prosus invests across Europe, LatAm, and Asia—so uniform playbooks don’t exist. Instead, Monika champions “jet-ski projects”: small, self-contained experiments that can speed ahead or fail without capsizing the corporate mothership. “Let the jet-ski sink before you bet the ship,” she quipped, urging executives to swap perfectionism for momentum.

Ernesto Lasalandra, Ferrari – Craftsmanship meets open science
Ferrari’s challenge is electrifying a brand rooted in combustion and emotion. Lasalandra highlighted a three-way collaboration with NXP and the University of Bologna—each tackling battery management from a different angle: chemistry, electronics, and driver sensibility. “Open innovation works when everyone tackles the same challenge for different reasons,” he said, noting shared IP frameworks kept territorial instincts in check.

Seth Dobrin, 1infinity Ventures – Responsible AI or bust
Drawing from his experience as IBM’s first Global Chief AI Officer, Dobrin warned that ethical shortcuts become balance-sheet liabilities. “AI not built by people who look like society won’t serve society,” he said, urging boards to invest in diverse data pipelines and governance from day one.

Though their sectors differ, all three emphasized relentless, purpose-driven iteration.

From conference stage to care pathway

These insights extend far beyond The Next Web stage. Some of the same forces pushing Ferrari toward new powertrains or Prosus toward nimble experimentation are pressuring healthcare too, such as growing data complexity or growing workforce shortages.

Philips’ answer to these challenges is moving from “from devices to decisions”—integrating AI, imaging, and informatics into care pathways so that data flows, systems connect, and clinicians can focus on people, not process. Whether detecting strokes faster, monitoring patients remotely, or streamlining hospital workflows, every innovation is guided by a simple principle: solve what hurts most first.

“We’re 130 years old, but in this age of rapid AI innovation, if our thinking even becomes 130 days old, we may already be behind. We keep asking, ‘Are our ideas still valid?’—and be ready to prove your ideas by constantly talking to customers,” Shez concluded.