Insights from Future Product Days 2025

In late September, I attended Future Product Days in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference featured two packed days exploring how AI, research, and design are reshaping the way we build products. From innovative research techniques to lessons from China’s super-apps, every session offered something that changed the way I think about digital products.

Even without having an overarching conference theme, I noticed that every talk, panel, and conversation pointed to the same idea: we are in the middle of a profound shift in how we understand and serve people. What struck me most was that amid all the technological progress, the work of building great products remains deeply human.

In her talk “X-Ray Vision: Reveal the Hidden Forces Driving User Behavior,” Sarah Thompson delivered one of the most memorable sessions of the conference. She reminded us that human brains have not evolved in 40,000 years. Technology may be advancing faster than ever, but emotion, motivation, and trust remain at the heart of every great product experience.

She captured this idea perfectly, describing it as “the edge in the age of AI.” Even as machines grow smarter, she explained, emotion still wins.

To illustrate this, Thompson discussed the Endowment Effect, or the idea that when people feel a sense of ownership, they value something more deeply. She shared a case study from the American Heart Association, which redesigned its donation experience to create an emotional connection rather than optimizing efficiency. The result was remarkable: a 50% increase in fundraising!

It was a powerful reminder that lasting impact comes from designing for how people feel, not just what they do.

Another session that resonated with me came from Christina Boutrup, whose talk “China’s Super Apps – Lessons to Learn from the World’s Largest Digital Economy” offered an in-depth look at how digital products are created, scaled, and sustained across China’s rapidly evolving tech landscape.

As someone with a particular interest in how digital ecosystems function at a global scale, especially in East Asia, I found her insights both fascinating and deeply relevant. They connected directly to my own work in the U.S. and to my current efforts assisting in the redesign of the LIS-S 531 Global Digital Services course for the IU Indianapolis Department of Library and Information Science.

Boutrup’s presentation underscored how China has become a global laboratory for digital innovation, driven by relentless experimentation, data-informed decision making, and the seamless integration of services. Companies such as ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, conduct more than one thousand experiments each day, often using competing internal teams to accelerate innovation. The result is a culture that thrives on speed, iteration, and continuous learning.

E-commerce and media platforms such as Temu, Shein, and Dramabox are redefining how people interact with digital products. Through Consumer to Manufacturing (C2M) systems, companies like Temu and Shein use digitized supply chains to turn customer feedback directly into production decisions. Meanwhile, Dramabox combines short form storytelling, rewards, and community, showing how interactive and emotionally engaging design can strengthen user loyalty. Together, these examples reflect how China’s digital ecosystem thrives on speed, creativity, and user driven innovation.

What stood out to me throughout Boutrup’s talk was how China’s digital ecosystem demonstrates a rare combination of customer focus, constant experimentation, and intelligent use of data and AI. Companies there think in months, not years. They test continuously, iterate quickly, and use internal competition to spark innovation. For me, these lessons extend far beyond China, offering valuable insights into how we can design and manage digital products more effectively across the global landscape.

Leaving Copenhagen, I realized that the future of product is not only about new tools or technologies. It is about rediscovering the human side of innovation and understanding how emotion, trust, and curiosity shape better digital experiences.

Technology is moving faster than ever, but our job as UX professionals stays the same: understand people deeply and design for what truly moves them. In the age of AI, that remains our greatest advantage.