The data story behind sustainability
Together, digital maturity and connected data empower organizations to embed sustainability into engineering, manufacturing and supply chains
Sustainabilty is a strategic choice
Sustainability is no longer a constraint but a deliberate strategic decision that shapes innovation speed and competitiveness.
For many companies, sustainability still feels like an obligation or reporting burden, an external pressure rather than an internal driver. But let me start with a conviction that has grown stronger every year I’ve worked with manufacturing leaders:
Sustainability is not a mandatory checklist. It is a strategic choice. And it is that choice that will define tomorrow’s winners.
The recent decision by the European Commission to delay certain sustainability reporting obligations made this painfully clear. Many companies see that delay as a relief, as if the pressure has momentarily lifted. I see it differently.
I see opportunity.
An opportunity to shift sustainability away from compliance and embed it directly into innovation. Because when sustainability is integrated into how you design, engineer, manufacture, and service products, the reporting becomes a natural byproduct, not a separate project. And that is precisely where AI becomes unavoidable.
Filip Bossuyt
Chief Strategy Officer & Founder, 9altitudes
"To use AI for innovation, companies must first understand which data creates value, which data they lack, and which data they must begin measuring tomorrow."
Filip Bossuyt, Chief Strategy Officer & Founder
AI shortens the innovation cycle
The conversation around AI often focuses on productivity: generating content, speeding up tasks, automating routine work. Useful, certainly. But not transformative. Where AI truly disrupts the industry is here: AI forces a complete redesign of the innovation process.
The classic design approach: start in 2D, model it in 3D, then consider footprint or material impact, is becoming too slow and too narrow.
The future requires something very different:
- Modular design from parameters and master data
- Materials and components defined through digital properties
- Automated drawing generation
- AI agents that simulate variants, test scenarios, and optimize for sustainability and cost simultaneously
This isn’t a dream. AI makes it not only possible, but inevitable. And let me be crystal clear about one thing: you cannot have an AI strategy without a data strategy.
To use AI for innovation, companies must first understand which data creates value, which data they lack, and which data they must begin measuring tomorrow.
AI becomes the GPS for processes, products, and performance
I often compare AI to a GPS. Years ago, we printed maps. Then we used digital route planners. Today, GPS systems guide us in real time - turn by turn, reacting to traffic, roadblocks, and new conditions. AI takes the next leap.
AI will become the GPS for your business processes, your products, and your factory operations simultaneously.
It will:
- Optimize your business processes (the “road”)
- Improve your products continuously through data (the “car”)
- Adjust the operational ecosystem around you (the “infrastructure”)
In other words, AI won’t just guide you more efficiently from A to B.
It will upgrade the vehicle you’re driving and optimize the road you’re driving on.
This is exactly why sustainability and AI are such a powerful combination:
AI rewards everything that makes products and processes more sustainable: less waste, smarter design, fewer defects, lower footprint.
The biggest misconception: Sustainability only adds cost
I understand why many companies still believe sustainability increases cost.
If you look at it superficially, you see only:
- more reporting points
- more systems
- more measurements
- more investment
But that is short-term thinking.
The real question is:
How does your value proposition stay competitive?
If two companies offer the same product, but only one has embedded durability, modular design, lower footprint, and digital traceability, the market will eventually reward that company.
Not because Europe demands it… but because customers do.
Because younger generations expect it.
Because CO₂ taxation or footprint pricing is no longer an “if” but a “when.”
Sustainability is not a cost center.
It is a long-term differentiator.
Companies must increase their internal clock speed
Every organization has what I call an internal clock speed: the pace at which it can change. And if we’re honest, few companies operate at the speed the future requires. AI accelerates the outside world. Innovation cycles shorten dramatically. Customer expectations evolve faster than processes can adapt.
That is the real challenge ahead.
We must train ourselves to move faster. To make decisions, implement changes, and experiment—all while keeping operations running. It truly is “renovating the airplane while it’s flying.” And that means:
- Change management becomes essential
- C-level alignment is non-negotiable
- Vision must be shared top-down
People must be taken along in the journey.
The competitive landscape is shifting faster than ever
Let me say this plainly:
You can no longer be a Microsoft Dynamics partner who only implements Dynamics.
That era is gone. The next wave of competitors will not implement ERP systems.
They will:
- Deliver outcomes
- Use AI as the primary engine
- Automate design, production, and decision-making
- Become innovation partners instead of IT partners
This is why the digital common thread: PLM, ERP, MES, data, and AI aligned - is no longer optional. It is the backbone of the modern manufacturer.
Companies that embrace this approach today will set the pace for the next generation of industry leaders.
The future: semi-autonomous factories and self-thinking products.The direction is undeniable.
We are moving toward a world where:
- Products report their own maintenance needs
- Factories self-optimize based on real-time data
- Supply chains anticipate issues before they occur
- Variants and drawings are generated automatically
- Innovation becomes a continuous loop instead of a project
Call it Industry 4.0. Call it the foundation of Industry 5.0.
What matters is that AI makes sustainable innovation scalable, predictable, and significantly faster.
Sustainability isn’t a burden: it’s the future of competitiveness
I believe in sustainability. Not because it is mandatory, but because it is smarter. I believe in AI. Not because it is a trend, but because it radically shortens innovation cycles. And I believe that companies that combine both sustainability and AI, will define the next era of industrial competitiveness.
Sustainability is a choice. AI makes that choice scalable. Together, they create the companies of the future.
Sustainability insights survey
The survey provided insights into the pressures organizations face to supply sustainability data. The results indicate that more than 75% either feel this pressure or anticipate experiencing it in the future. Comparing this with the level of preparation and support from digital business applications, the data suggests that many companies are not yet prepared or do not collect data in a structured manner using such tools. Given these findings, organizations may need to begin focusing on developing data capturing, collection, and reporting practices related to sustainability.