Solidly researched, grounded in practice, interactive, and moderated to the point. Valuable for anyone who wants to understand the future — and help shape it.
DIGITAL CHINA EXECUTIVE PROGRAM 2026
Digital China Executive Program — Looking for clarity in today’s chaotic digital world?
Helping leaders see what comes next through China’s advanced digital ecosystems.
A focused, accessible executive program designed to help leadership teams understand China and rethink digital transformation at the same time.
01
01 / Strategic Mirror
Why Digital China Matters
In today’s world, every executive needs to understand digital transformation. And every executive needs to understand China. So why not learn both together?
Digital in the West is stuck in familiar patterns: pilots instead of deployment, silos instead of ecosystems, optimization instead of reinvention. For too long, companies have looked almost exclusively to Silicon Valley for answers.
Digital China is a strategic mirror — the only major digital ecosystem not built as a copy of Silicon Valley. For executives, it is a future machine to study: a place to find new patterns, challenge old assumptions and build competitive advantage before competitors know where to look.
02 / Program Logic
How the Program Works
China as a Strategic Mirror
The program uses Digital China as a strategic tool to help Western leaders see their own digital future with fresh eyes.
From observation to strategic advantage
Western Digital Stagnation
PilotsSilosOptimizationSilicon Valley Playbook
Digital China
The System to Decode
A different digital ecosystem where AI, platforms, commerce, mobility, manufacturing, data, organization and speed connect.
New Strategic Perspective
New PatternsBetter QuestionsCompetitive Advantage
Understand what is behind the trends
See
AI, platforms, commerce, mobility, manufacturing, data and speed.
Decode
How the ecosystem connects tools, models, culture and organization.
Understand
Why Digital China works differently.
Apply
New patterns, better questions and strategic implications for your company.
A China trip shows what China does. This Executive Program helps your leadership team understand why it works as a system — and what it means for your company’s digital future.
03
03 / The Briefing
First Step: Get the Executive Briefing
A 60-minute entry point into Digital China.
The regular invite-only Executive Briefings offer a focused, easy way to understand what leadership teams can learn from Digital China. They can also be tailored as private executive sessions for your leadership team — focused on your industry, your strategic questions and your transformation agenda.
60 minutes online·invite-only·executive-focused
Briefing Agenda
What leaders will understand in 60 minutes.
01
China as Future Machine
Why Digital China is more than a market, competitor or geopolitical challenge — and what it reveals about AI, platforms, speed, customer experience and digital transformation.
02
Best Practice Cases
Real business cases from China’s most advanced digital ecosystems — where AI, commerce, mobility, manufacturing and customer interaction already create measurable business impact.
03
Lessons for the West
What Western companies can learn, what they should not copy, and which strategic questions Digital China raises for their own digital future.
04
04 / Program Formats
From briefing to deep dive.
After the Executive Briefing, you can deepen the work through three individual, adaptable formats.
01REMOTE
Online Format
Executive Sparring
Sharpen strategic questions.
Ongoing executive sparring for decision-makers who want to continuously make sense of Digital China and new competitive dynamics — from AI applications and dark factories to commerce, mobility and digital ecosystems. With clear interpretation and impulses for better decisions.
02ONSITE
Half-day / Full-day · Onsite
Boardroom Workshop
Align the leadership team.
A workshop for leadership teams that want to build shared understanding and clarify the next priorities — using Digital China insights as a basis for strategy, operating model and transformation.
03IN CHINA
Curated Executive Format
China Immersion Trip
Experience the future on the ground.
A curated executive trip through China’s digital business ecosystems — with relevant meetings, exchange with key players and strategic debriefing. No sightseeing, no tech tour, but a structured immersion connected to your topics.
05
05 / References
What clients and partners say.
Selected references from consulting, keynotes, workshops and executive education — showing how Digital China, AI, retail and transformation topics have been translated for leadership audiences.
▍ Featured Video / Reference
“Accenture Song
Björn corrects our often-wrong picture of China and shows — through digital cases across industries — how China’s tomorrow is already working remarkably well today.
The moment you realize how little you actually know about China is worth attending alone. Time well spent — leaves a lasting impression and genuinely makes you think.
A top-class expert and speaker on digital transformation — and a genuine China expert who isn't just well-read, but actually knows the reality on the ground.
AlibabaBechtleBoschByteDanceDeloitte DigitalDMEXCOHSBAOTTO GroupPushconUC DavisUni MünsterVolkswagen
06
06 / Insights
Current insights.
Explore the ideas and concepts that shape the Digital China Executive Program. At the core is always the question of which blind spots Western digital transformation overlooks today.
▍ Editorial · DCEP / Field NotesView all insights
07
07 / About Björn
Björn Ognibeni
Practical Visionary
A European strategy perspective on Digital China.
Björn is not a China tour guide, not a technology evangelist and not a geopolitical commentator. He translates Digital China into the business reality of Western companies.
With more than 20 years of experience in digital strategy, Björn works at the intersection of digital transformation, AI, retail, customer dialogue and business models — bringing this perspective into leadership teams, workshops and boardrooms.
His work makes Chinese business and technology developments useful for Western companies: not as fascination, not as copy-paste templates, but as a strategic mirror for better decisions about competition, transformation and the future of their business.
20+
Years of experience
C-Suite
Audiences
EU / CN
Strategic Axis
08
08 / Contact
Get in touch.
Interested in exploring Digital China or rethinking digital? Send me a short note about the questions you’d like to discuss. I’ll get back to you with the right next step.
Would you like to join one of the next Executive Briefings? Just request an invite by email.