At icapps, innovation is more than a buzzword; it's embedded in our culture. Maarten, who celebrates his ninth year with icapps this November, is at the forefront of this mission. As Innovation Manager, he plays a pivotal role in shaping how we approach new technology, aiming to make innovation accessible and meaningful for everyone.
A role in innovation
Maarten’s journey took a pivotal turn when he embraced this mission, taking on responsibilities that allowed him to propagate innovation throughout icapps. Throughout his career, he has engaged in various innovation tracks, including leading a blockchain project from start to finish. In his current role, he actively drives innovation across the company while balancing his client-facing work as a back-end developer and mentor.
One of his biggest challenges? Making innovation accessible to everyone. "Innovation isn’t just about big, flashy projects like AI or the Apple Vision Pro," Maarten explains. "It can be as small as testing a new tool or methodology." He aims to cultivate an environment at icapps where innovation is visible and accessible for all colleagues to contribute to.
“I want innovation to be something everyone can get involved in,” he says. “It’s about creating space for new ideas, even small ones, and ensuring they get the right attention.”
The future of innovation and technology
Maarten is cautiously optimistic about emerging technologies, especially AI, which he sees as both promising and overhyped. "There’s a lot of misinformation around AI. It often comes down to language models predicting words in sequence, hardly something you’d trust with critical decisions,” he remarks. He envisions a future where AI applications are grounded in practicality, offering real value once the initial hype settles.
He’s also closely watching the Apple Vision Pro, anticipating that future consumer models will align better with user expectations. But for Maarten, the core focus remains on practical tech solutions that benefit clients in tangible ways.
Balancing innovation with business strategy
Navigating the balance between project work and innovation can be challenging. “We serve diverse clients, so I can’t pull people off projects for innovation work,” Maarten notes. However, he emphasizes that innovation is also integral to our client projects, often emerging from the challenges and solutions we encounter.
Instead of separating innovation from our customer work, we leverage insights from these projects to enhance our internal processes.
Maarten seizes moments when colleagues have downtime between projects to foster innovative thinking and experimentation, ensuring that our approach remains adaptable and responsive to client needs and internal growth.
His vision is to stay top of mind with clients and show we’re always thinking ahead.
Staying inspired
As for staying up-to-date in an ever-evolving field, Maarten relies on a mix of external resources and hands-on work. One of his go-to tools is TLDR, a newsletter that curates short, digestible summaries of articles on topics like AI, tech, and marketing. “It’s a great way to stay informed without feeling overwhelmed,” he says. Additionally, his day-to-day work in backend development naturally exposes him to new frameworks and tools, ensuring he remains at the forefront of technological advancements.
