From June 17 to 18, 2025, PMI participated in the CHAINge Europe Conference in Brussels, accompanied by several colleagues. In addition to engaging discussions with participants from academia, business, and policy, one of the most inspiring moments of the event was the keynote by Henrik von Scheel.
The futurist and co-founder of Strategic Intelligence at the World Economic Forum offered deep insights into the forces that will shape global supply chains in the coming years. His central message: the world is undergoing a paradigm shift - driven by the multiplicative impact of several megatrends. Thriving in this environment requires strategic reinvention, technological sovereignty, and trust as a guiding principle.
When Megatrends Collide
Von Scheel illustrated how economic, technological, and geopolitical dynamics are reinforcing each other - rendering old rules obsolete. For instance, the era of a unipolar, Western-dominated system is over. Economic power has been shifting significantly toward Asia, which now accounts for roughly 75% of global growth.
Even more significant is the restructuring of the global financial system: with Saudi Arabia decoupling oil and gold trade from the US dollar, an entire era has ended. Supply chains, long built on Western stability, must now reorient in a multipolar world. According to von Scheel, this is not a crisis but a historic opportunity - a "globalization reset" in which core structures must be reimagined.
Trust as Strategic Currency
In this emerging global order, trust becomes the strategic currency of resilient supply chains. As technologies like AI, automation, and digitalization accelerate processes, trust is what connects people, systems, and organizations.
Von Scheel emphasized that supply chains are not run by systems - but by people. Despite the rise of digital tools, human reliability remains the foundation of competitiveness and resilience.
Digitalization: Not a Goal, but a Process
Digitalization, according to von Scheel, is not a one-time transformation but a continuous maturity process. He outlined several waves of digital development - from digital sensing, to symbolic AI and machine learning, all the way to deploying in-house language models to ensure data control and protection.
Modern supply chains, he argued, require more than tools - they need a strategic understanding of data flows, process design, and automation. Starting with shadow AI and workflows can pave the way for real efficiency gains via narrow AI. While AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) remains a distant goal, the immediate priority is clean, structured data and the smart application of automation.
Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage
A particularly compelling part of the keynote focused on the “Environmental Revolution”. Von Scheel sees a new era where regulation becomes a driver of innovation, not a burden.
Companies that measure and manage their emissions, energy, and water usage effectively can benefit from tax advantages and competitive positioning. Sustainability, in this context, is no longer a vague aspiration, but a financially relevant KPI - with the potential to boost EBITDA by up to 5% within three years.
From Cost Center to Value Driver
Von Scheel challenged a common misconception: Supply chains were never meant to be cost centers - they became one through excessive IT focus. In truth, this is where 80% of a company's competitiveness is created: through smart sourcing, operational excellence, data-driven planning, and integrated partnerships.
Even areas like inventory financing can be rethought through digital visibility - a concept von Scheel calls "financial re-engineering." When data on location, temperature, or movement of goods is reliable, inventory can be financed and insured, creating new financial flexibility.
Our Conclusion
The keynote at CHAINge Europe 2025 made one thing clear: the future of supply chains will not be defined solely by technology, but also by strategy, trust, and human ingenuity. Organizations that embrace this mindset can turn complexity into opportunity - and take an active role in shaping the global transformation.
Next up: CHAINge North America in Columbus, Ohio on September 9–10.
Will we see you there
