“Samsung has both the scale and the philosophy to develop faster, better, and with more creativity”

2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse. “It’s a powerful horse, symbolising action and independence. Combined with fire, which represents passion and intensity, it brings a sense of dynamism and transformative energy. You could draw parallels with what’s happening globally, geopolitically, and see it as a call to look further—even when it comes to displays. To think in terms of decisiveness, movement, and everything that is happening or could happen.”

How would you link displays to what’s happening in the world?

Evert – We could think more deeply about security, for example. There’s a lot going on that encourages companies to strengthen their defences, not only to geopolitical threats, but to individual hackers too.

Security is becoming a massive topic for the entire AV world…

Evert – …and across the entire electronics and ICT landscape. Every industry now has examples of organisations being affected. We’re no longer talking about small businesses with a hacked backup and an owner in distress. We’re talking about major organisations. Remember the airport incidents at the end of 2025. But hotel chains, telcos, governments, and manufacturing plants have all been targeted too.

What role do displays play here?

Evert – We must do our part to prevent attacks where possible. For example, by ensuring a display is not the entry point into your network. Hackers will exploit any endpoint that offers a path inside, looking for the point of least resistance. If you have screens with open ports and zero security, they become an attractive “way in”. Think of it like home security: you don’t get an alarm system to protect your house, but to avoid being the easiest target on the street. 

So with Samsung, you have the most secure display on the street?

Evert – When it comes to displays, we’ve had a highly secure screen for over a decade with Knox. Our approach is multi-layered: we secure at the application level, the platform, and the hardware. That last layer is embedded directly onto the chip.

Belgian pilots

It sometimes feels like security has overtaken sustainability in the pecking order. A few years ago, everything was about going green.

Evert – It might be discussed less frequently, but sustainability hasn’t lost its importance. Three years ago at ISE, we had a large booth dedicated entirely to sustainability. We announced our short, medium, and long-term roadmaps. We are audited annually, and we’re actually ahead of schedule. 

A good example is our E-Paper, a key part of our roadmap. The 32-inch model uses recycled plastic. The 13-inch version even incorporates 10% plastic derived from phytoplankton—from the sea. We didn’t have those stories to tell three years ago.

E-Paper was your big new last year. We saw it in action at the Taste & Learn, in two sizes. Is it gaining traction?

Evert – A third format, 20-inch, is on the way. While we haven’t done a large-scale rollout in Belgium yet, dozens of pilots are running. So E-Paper is being extensively tested. We developed it from a display perspective: combining E ink panels with our expertise in colour and picture quality, and making it manageable like any other signage screen within your network. Our aim is to deliver the best possible image, managed easily from a central location.

Of course, it costs more than printing a sheet of paper. But if you have to print and replace that sheet every week across hundreds of locations, you need to consider the total operational cost. E-Paper consumes zero energy once the content is set. There’s just the initial investment and a small software license fee for remote updates. In our pilots, we assess case-by-case the total cost of ownership and user satisfaction. And we prove it genuinely consumes no electricity—something people find hard to believe at first.

Are we Belgians a tough crowd to convince?

Evert – Yes, Belgians need to be convinced, which means things can take a little longer. But we’re certainly not the slowest. I also oversee the Netherlands, where they tend to experiment with new technologies more quickly. In Belgium, we prefer to see technology proven and stable before scaling up. That said, in other regions you’ll find a higher percentage of so-called ‘laggards’, organisations that adopt later, often when prices have already dropped. Your average Belgian company definitely doesn’t fit that description.

Bigger, brighter, better

Even with your established displays, you need to keep innovating. When our CEO Jan introduced your keynote, he almost jokingly said what stood out most was that screens keep getting bigger, colours brighter, and blacks deeper. Is there a truth in that simplicity?

Evert – Jan was absolutely right. It’s been the constant for at least the ten years I’ve been in this job. Bigger, brighter, and better is essentially the credo. 

As is often the case for technology, innovation in business follows what consumers are already used to at home. I remember my first television. It felt enormous at the time. 100 centimetres! In reality, that’s just about 40 inches, which we’d consider tiny today. And it was bulky, a CRT. We’ve moved so far past that. 

We’re now used to large formats. Today, our largest single-panel display is 130 inches, featuring a back panel that uses coloured LED (Micro RGB) instead of traditional white LED. The colours are incredibly vibrant. Black levels and brightness are crucial, because screens of this size typically end up in premium locations: boardrooms, auditoriums, lobbies. It’s a trend that will only continue.

But when it comes to innovation, the launch of the Spatial is what will stand out this year?

Evert – Spatial Displays provide depth without the need for 3D glasses or physical depth in the screen itself. We’ve had our classic Q-series for years: QB, QM, QH. In B2B, stability is just as important as innovation, backed by strong references.

We’ve now enhanced the QH series, known for their high brightness, with a lenticular film. It’s a kind of integrated 3D layer within the panel that creates depth. The screen remains just as slim, around 5 centimetres, but when you stand in front of it, you get a profound sense of depth.

It’s innovative, it’s cool, and it opens up great possibilities. Imagine a virtual assistant guiding visitors in a lobby, or adding depth to a featured product.

We’re also launching an AI studio within our VXT content management system, so you can generate 3D visuals from just a few 2D shots and a well-crafted prompt, all for a standard wall-mounted display.

Size does matter

How does Samsung’s scale support innovation and bringing new products to market?

Evert – In quite a few ways. For one, we benefit from having Samsung Display within the wider group. I represent Samsung Electronics, specifically the display division. But we’re able to develop end products using the expertise of our sister companies, Samsung Display and Samsung Semiconductor.

Samsung Display produces screens in all shapes and sizes, including for mobile devices, and that’s where a lot of exciting innovation comes from. Having access to that technology allows us to think and develop faster, in more creative ways.

When it comes to semiconductors, we don’t manufacture chips in Belgium, but we do collaborate with leading research hubs here like Imec—where you are also active.

Right alongside you.

Evert – Super cool, right? That’s what I love about Samsung: we think beyond the role of a traditional supplier.

Researchers from the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Korea work at Imec in Belgium and ASML in the Netherlands, and vice versa. They conduct research and development on a global scale. At the same time, we collaborate locally with these organisations, and with integrators like Whitemilk.

I’ll keep saying it: we are a company built on partnerships, especially at a local level. Whitemilk is one of our key partners. We take a very open approach to collaboration. We don’t want to do everything ourselves or operate within our own bubble. That simply isn’t our philosophy. That openness is, in my view, one of Samsung’s real strengths: working together, developing together, and integrating together.