How technology and society transformed over the last 15 years
Imagine waking up from a coma after 15 years, you’d probably think you were on a different planet. Today, one person can build an app in less than a few hours. Trump's back. Most of us work remotely or at least hybrid. And yes, mobile apps are still a big thing, with the number of app downloads reaching 218 billion last year.
Imagine waking up from a coma after 15 years, you’d probably think you were on a different planet. Today, one person can build an app in less than a few hours. Trump's back. Most of us work remotely or at least hybrid. And yes, mobile apps are still a big thing, with the number of app downloads reaching 218 billion last year.
The pace of change feels relentless.
(Although we still don't have those promised self-driving cars.)
Let’s unfold the last 15 years in reverse.
Starting from today's AI revolution to the dawn of the mobile age — where our story started.
Shaping the future with a steady hand while new uncertainties arise
Tectonic
We're not just adapting to change, we are defining it. At Tectonic, our two-day flagship event at Wintercircus Ghent, we bring 1,500+ founders, enterprise leaders, investors, and policymakers together to move Europe from ideas to implementation.
Trellis
ChatITP 2.0 evolves into Trellis, from experiment to essential infrastructure, becoming our third most-used application with 62% daily usage.
Hybrid Roles
Meanwhile, our perspective on product development shifts fundamentally, as we pioneer new hybrid roles combining design, engineering, and AI expertise.
Trump gets a second mandate in the White House, bringing in Elon Musk as his protege who created the new White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). War in Gaza and Ukraine continues.
We went from 'AI can write emails' to 'AI can run your business' real quick.
Digital sovereignty emerges as a key European priority. Tech nationalism rises globally.
2024
Cutting through the AI noise with confidence
AI Research Assistant
We secured our first major public project and landed our first significant AI-native product building an AI research assistant that saves 2,000+ hours in academic reading.
Shift
Our thought leadership in AI and our Shift event demonstrate how our forward-thinking approach continues to tackle new technology with proven methodology and experience.
AI regulations start to come to force (better late than never). Quantum computers solve something useful, finally. Global elections keep everyone on edge.
Virtual reality finally finds its purpose beyond gaming. Ghent's tech ecosystem is now valued above €34B.
2023
Chat GPT goes big, so do we
Babel
We built Babel in just 24 hours and hosted a packed AI event featuring Pieter Abbeel.
Opening New Studios
Our position was clear: AI is more than training models, it's redefining the human-computer relationship. This vision drove our expansion beyond Belgium with new studios in Amsterdam, Bucharest, and Lisbon, and our team growing to 200 employees.
The summer of Barbenheimer. ChatGPT triggers the AI revolution, as it goes mainstream, and soon everyone becomes a prompt engineer.
Twitter becomes X, leaving everyone unamused. Nuclear fusion finally works, even if it’s just for about a second.
2022
First edition of Flow, a platform for inspiration and knowledge-sharing
Our Third Studio
Building on this momentum, 2022 saw the opening of our third studio in Antwerp.
Flow
We also launched our internal conference, FLOW, and the ITP way, formal name for our tested and proven methodology for digital product development.
ChatGPT drops. AI art tools spark existential crisis in the art community.
The Ukraine conflict reshapes global politics. Crypto winter arrives, NFT believers keep believing.
2021
Expansion and growth despite the pandemic and its repercussions
Our Growth
The digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 fueled nearly 30% growth.
Facebook announced they are Meta now. Everyone quits their jobs, calling it 'Great Resignation' because nothing makes sense anymore. Remote work becomes permanent for many.
NFTs make digital art expensive, somehow questioning everything about artists, galleries, and collectors. Space tourism begins, for those with spare millions. Vaccine passports spark digital identity debates. Global chip shortage affects every industry.
2020
Things get weird, but we stay agile and focused on delivering value
Lockdown Identity Verification
When the pandemic struck in 2020, our previous work on itsMe proved crucial for digital identity verification during lockdowns. Agile as we are, we transitioned to full remote operations just one day before the official lockdown.
Studio Shift
We maintained our team spirit through daily newsletters, weekly all-hands meetings, and online social activities. When we couldn't host our Shift event in person, we pivoted to three days of online radio, proving that emergency stimulates creativity. Additionally, we achieved ISO certification, reinforcing our commitment to excellence.cts.
COVID-19 forces global lockdowns. Remote work becomes an overnight reality. Everyone becomes a sourdough expert and taps into DIY.
Zoom becomes a verb. Digital transformation accelerates from years to months. Bitcoin does its thing again, closing at $28,993 by the end of the year, increasing 416% from the start of that year.
2019
Faster internet, faster delivery of medical devices
IT Service Provider of the Year
We got recognition as IT Service Provider of the Year.
AgileConf
We also showcased we can deliver premium quality products fast. At the AgileConf in Washington DC we talked about how we shipped an FDA-approved medical device in under nine months.
5G rollout begins. TikTok goes global, destroying attention spans everywhere. Quantum supremacy claimed by Google, though nobody's quite sure what that means.
Baby Yoda, officially known as Grogu, from The Mandalorian on Disney Plus, became a global sensation.
2018
Introducing ML/AI and AR/XR departments
Our Second Studio
Opened our second studio in Leuven, reached 100 employees, and established dedicated ML/AI and AR/XR teams.
Our First Major Cloud Initiative
Our Daikin Cloud project marked our first major cloud initiative, demonstrating our expanding technical capabilities.
GDPR launches, spawning a million cookie popups. Fortnite dances take over playgrounds worldwide.
First gene-edited babies see the light, making ethicists lose sleep. Trade wars kicked off, as if regular wars weren’t enough.
2017
Blockchain enters the scene, our Shift era begins
Shift
While the world became fixated on chatbots and predictions that AR would replace smartphones in 2017, we focused on building solid foundations: implementing fully cross-functional product teams and launching our first 'Shift' event featuring Nick Bostrom.
Summer Academy
This year, we also started our collaboration with itsMe and we launched our first Summer Academy, our 4-day design challenge for senior year students.
Crypto boom has everyone and their grandmother talking about blockchain. CRISPR makes gene editing sound simple. Solar power becomes cheaper than coal.
#MeToo movement starts in Hollywood but goes beyond it, finally raising gender discrimination. The infamous Fyre festival turns out to be one of the biggest scams, leaving influencers eating bad sandwiches while crying for help to get them out of the Great Exuma island.
2016
SpaceX lands a rocket, we have a touchdown at our new office in Dok Noord
Dok Noord Office
Moving to Dok Noord in Ghent, we reinvented ourselves as a 'digital product studio': the first of its kind in Belgium and continental Europe.
Brussels Airport
This year also marked our first React Native app for Brussels Airport, showcasing our ability to quickly adapt to emerging technologies.
Trump wins US election, proving reality can be stranger than fiction. Brexit vote happens, surprising even the people who campaigned for it.
SpaceX lands a rocket on a drone ship, naming it 'Of Course I Still Love You' because rocket scientists have feelings too. Pokemon Go gets millions walking into lamp posts.
2015
Transforming traditional publishing into a thriving digital business
De Persgroep
While others worry about engagement, we focus on value. We helped De Persgroep adapt to digital reality and develop mobile news applications. This partnership resulted in the creation of a white-label mobile app for AD, which then served as the foundation for seven regional news titles owned by De Persgroep Nederland, the largest news organisation in the Netherlands.
Beacon Technology
Our team doubles as beacon technology shows how digital can enhance physical spaces.
196 countries sign Paris Agreement. Windows 10 goes free, marking the end of Microsoft's 'pay for every update' era.
Belgium Red Devils achieved the number one spot in the FIFA World Rankings.
2014
Turning new devices into experiences, supporting media organisation in their digitalisation
5 Year Collaboration
Start of our 5-year collaboration with De Persgroep, making media apps more delightful and improving the online business model for traditional media.
Amazon Echo enters homes, letting Alexa judge our music taste.
Ice Bucket Challenge proves people will do anything for a good cause (and attention).
2013
Privacy concerns peaked with Snowden, but we were still able to get people to trust digital payments
Bancontact
We started working on the infamous Bancontact app that found its way into countless smartphones.
Snowden reveals we're all being watched. iOS 7 makes everything flat, because skeuomorphism is so 2012.
Netflix drops whole seasons at once, inventing binge-watching and destroying weekend plans globally. Atlas robot shows up, stumbling around like a teenager learning to walk.
2012
Facebook buys Instagram, we spin off Showpad
Showpad
Co-founders of In The Pocket, PJ Bouten and Louis Jonckheere noticed sales teams needed a better way to handle their content. Showpad was born.
Facebook acquires Instagram. CERN discovers the Higgs boson.
Gangnam Style proves music doesn't need translating to go viral. Curiosity lands on Mars, sending back slightly better selfies than Instagram.
2011
A major milestone for AI, while we master mobile focusing on capability beyond the hype
Utility Apps
While others still see apps as toys, we recognise mobile as a fundamental shift in human behaviour. We push our customers towards 'utility apps', products that hold actual value for the users.
IBM Watson wins Jeopardy, making humans question their (trivia) supremacy. The Arab Spring reshapes the Middle East. Bin Laden operation ends decade-long manhunt. The Fukushima disaster leads to global nuclear policy shifts.
Bitcoin starts gaining traction, though most still think it's still voodoo magic money. Game of Thrones' first season got everyone hooked from the start. Mobile becomes a tool of revolution, not just communication.
2010
To mobile or not to mobile, that was (never) our question
Paradigm Shift
The conventional wisdom claimed apps were too expensive and gated (read: destined to be replaced by web technologies) but our small team of visionaries saw something different. We saw mobile as the biggest paradigm shift since the personal computer.
Mobile is all the hype, but people are sceptical it will blow over soon. The first iPad came out. Instagram launches, making everyone believe they're a professional photographer and creating the new phenomenon called ‘selfies”.
WikiLeaks drops diplomatic cables, making diplomats everywhere frantically search their sent folders. Tomorrowland turns into the next big thing, going from 10,000 partygoers in 2005 to 180,000 in 2010.
Looking back to learn how to look forward
Where others saw hype, we saw opportunity. Where others followed, we led.
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
This journey from 2010 to 2025 reveals a constant: while the world swings between optimism and panic, steady digital advancements and increasingly fast AI adoption, we've maintained our composure. While markets fluctuated, our growth remained consistent. As trends came and went, we kept building what matters.
Today's AI revolution feels even more dizzying than 2010's mobile transformation. But our approach remains unchanged: stay calm in the chaos, focus on human needs, and build products that make a difference.
This journey from 2010 to 2025 reveals a constant: while the world swings between optimism and panic, steady digital advancements and increasingly fast AI adoption, we've maintained our composure. While markets fluctuated, our growth remained consistent. As trends came and went, we kept building what matters.
Today's AI revolution feels even more dizzying than 2010's mobile transformation. But our approach remains unchanged: stay calm in the chaos, focus on human needs, and build products that make a difference.
Fulfil your ambitions
We'd love to hear about your next challenges. Let's take the first step towards achieving your business goals. No strings attached.
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