To mark United Nations World Creativity and Innovation Day, PwC hosted its first Innovation and Creativity Day on 21 April 2026: a full day event showcasing how innovation is already shaping the way we work, targeting both clients and our people.
What challenges to innovation did we approach?
Everyone talks about innovation. Yet the same question keeps coming back: how do we stay relevant and turn ideas into real impact?
Innovation is rarely linear. It unfolds through experimentation, iteration and, at times, failure. What matters is not perfection, but the ability to pause, learn and adjust course. Above all, innovation is never a solo effort. It advances when experiences are shared and perspectives collide.
We designed Innovation and Creativity Day in response to these reflections. The ambition was clear: to create a space for open dialogue among people facing similar innovation challenges. Participants were invited to share experiences, challenge perspectives, and recognise that, while moving toward different directions, we are all navigating the same journey.
The event fostered connections across Luxembourg’s innovation ecosystem, inside and outside PwC. The morning featured keynotes by external guests Luc de Brabandere and Leonhard Kossmann, followed by workshops, panel discussions, and an innovation fair showcasing eight internally developed PwC innovation projects.
In the afternoon, the focus shifted to our People, with open access to the fair and hands-on training sessions on vibe coding, AI agents, prompting and service design, before closing the day with an aperitif to bring the innovation community together.
What were the main outcomes of the day?
Throughout Innovation and Creativity Day, speakers shared different methods and perspectives, reinforcing one central idea: there is no single path to innovation. Instead, progress emerges from complementary approaches that span mindset, culture, technology and execution.
1. Creativity and cultural change
Luc de Brabandere highlighted that innovation starts with changing mental models, not just processes. Through his “zigzag” methodology, he illustrated how creativity emerges by deliberately reframing reality and challenging established ways of thinking.
This focus on mindset was echoed in the session by Tessy Thill and Alessandro Acconcia, who explored Timothy R. Clark’s Four Stages of Psychological Safety (belong, learn, contribute and challenge), emphasising that innovation can only thrive when people feel safe enough to take risks and question the status quo.
2. AI transformation journey
From an organisational perspective, Olivier Carré shared insights from PwC’s AI transformation journey, underlining that scalable innovation is as much a people and governance challenge as it is a technological one. Clear structures, a well-defined pipeline of use cases, strong sponsorship and citizen-led adoption emerged as key enablers.
Leonhard Kossmann further illustrated how AI is reshaping product development, showing how AI-driven approaches enable faster prototyping, shorter iterations and a fundamental rethink of traditional processes.
3. Experimenting and testing
The innovation fair went beyond showcasing solutions; it created a real-time feedback loop between users and solution owners. By enabling direct interaction, it allowed participants to experience the demos in a real context while giving teams immediate insights into what is working and where value can be strengthened.
This highlights a fundamental principle of innovation: progress is rarely achieved in isolation, and real impact comes from continuous iteration.
Do we need a conclusion?
As Luc de Brabandere reminds us, innovation and creativity are not about reaching a final answer, but about keeping questions open to foster continuous reflection and enable out-of-the-box thinking. Unlike a mathematical equation or a cake recipe, where there is a clear end result, creativity and innovation require the courage to explore diverse perspectives, embrace uncertainty, and remain open to new possibilities along the way.
For more information, please visit our website here: https://www.pwc.lu/en/pwc-experience-center.html
Eleonora Dussin, UX Designer – Innovation Team of PwC Luxembourg, and Juliana Macedo Maines, Corporate Innovation Designer – Innovation Team of PwC Luxembourg
